LISTEN: LGBTQ advocates call a March killing in Savannah, Ga., a hate crime while the city's police department says there's no evidence for such an investigation. GPB's Orlando Montoya reports. 

Chris Allen Villegas Fentress is shown holding a blue drink in an outdoor location.

Chris Allen Villegas Fentress, 29, was a volunteer for the Savannah Pride Center before his murder on March 15, 2025.

Credit: Savannah Pride Center

The fallout from a fatal March shooting of a gay man in Savannah has some members of the city’s LGBTQ community questioning the city’s commitment to keeping it safe.

29-year-old Chris Allen Villegas Fentress was fatally shot two days before St. Patrick’s Day.

Michael Bell of the Savannah Pride Center said the killing should be investigated as a hate crime.

“When the shooter has a history of anti-gay messages that they’ve posted on their social media, when the victim is visibly, identifiably part of our community and anti-gay slurs were thrown, absolutely, it’s time for an investigation,” Bell said.

But the Savannah Police Department said there’s no evidence the killing meets that criteria. In fact, the agency hasn’t reported any hate crimes in the city since 1991, a statistic that Bell and others find hard to believe.

In response to an open records request, the agency provided GPB with a one-sentence report on the crime, acknowledging that it responded to the crime.

Communication on the case also has been minimal between the Savannah Police Department and the city’s LGBTQ community, according to Bell.

“I haven’t heard from the police at all,” he said when he spoke to GPB in late March. “No one has spoken to us.”

Savannah’s LGBTQ police liaison responded to Bell’s complaints about poor community relations in an April 17 report in The Current.

In the meantime, the Savannah Pride Center held a vigil for Fentress.

Johnathan Manson, 27, was charged with his murder.

Tags: Savannah  lgbtq  Georgia  Hate Crime  murder