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Two days after Christmas, the bodies of a Black lesbian couple and their two children were found brutally murdered in their home in Troy, New York. They have been identified as Shanise Myers, 5, Jeremiah Myers, 11, Shanta Myers, 36, and Brandi Mells, 22. 

Police officials say that they don’t believe this was a random act. Another family of four was murdered in 2014 not far from the town where this took place. 

According to a very small survey on niche.com, “62% of Troy residents say LGBT residents are somewhat accepted.” According to City-Data, lesbian couples comprise 0.6% of all households, and 47% of Troy residents voted for Trump in the 2016 election. There is an active LGBT community in nearby Albany. Lansingburgh is described as “fairly diverse,” a predominately working-class Irish neighborhood since the 1880s that is now 71% white, 17% Black, 9% Hispanic or Latino and 3% “other.”

“Only a person of savagery would do something like this,” police chief John Tedesco said at the press conference. “Nobody that’s been involved in this case is going to forget this.”