Candlelight vigil held in Downtown Wichita for Oklahoma nonbinary teen Nex Benedict

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – Candlelight vigils are being held in cities across the country to remember the life of Nex Benedict, an Oklahoma high school student who died one day after being involved in a fight in the school’s bathroom.

In Wichita Sunday night, dozens of community members gathered at the Keeper of the Plains to share their thoughts and offer their condolences.

“This is our people,” said Riley Chiever who attended the vigil. “Nex was one of us.”

Benedict, a 16-year-old who identified as nonbinary, died on February 8. One day earlier, Benedict and three girls got into an altercation at the school. In police body camera footage from a hospital bed after the fight, Benedict told a police investigator that the girls had attacked after the teen poured water on them. Benedict said the girls were picking on the teen and some friends.

“They came at me,” Benedict told a police investigator. “They grabbed on to my hair. I grabbed onto them, and I threw one of them into a paper towel dispenser. Then they got my legs out from underneath me and got me on the ground.”

Benedict was released from the hospital, but the next day, the teen’s mother called emergency crews to their home saying Benedict’s breathing was shallow,

“Sometimes it takes a tragedy for some other person to decide that’s enough,” said Jackie Carter, senior pastor at Table of Hope. “I’ve had enough now. I’m going to act. Our hope is that every one of these people that were here tonight will act.”

An official cause of death has not been released, but Benedict’s family said the teen was bullied for identifying as a nonbinary. In Wichita and many other cities outside Oklahoma, members and advocates of the LGBTQ+ community have rallied to bring awareness to Benedict’s death and help those that have been a victim of discrimination.

The Owasso Police Department in Oklahoma has reported that Benedict’s preliminary autopsy results did not indicate that the teenager died as a result of injuries during the fight.

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