San Francisco police on Monday arrested and charged 30-year-old Valentino Cash Amil with the hit-and-run murder of 74-year-old transgender musician Dannielle Spillman, following an altercation that occurred between the two.

The altercation occurred around 1:30 p.m. on Monday when Spillman objected to Amil’s black 2024 Mercedes-Benz E350 partially blocking her walking path on the sidewalk as he prepared to pull onto the street after fueling up at a Chevron gas station, prosecutors said, according to KTVU.

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Amil and Spillman spoke to each other before she walked from the car’s driver’s side to its front side, where she allegedly poured liquid from a water bottle on his hood. Amil then accelerated, knocking her onto his hood and windshield, prosecutors said. He then allegedly slowed down his car, causing her to slide in front of the vehicle, at which point he continued to drive forward, running her over with his front right tire and killing her before driving off.

Amil claimed to have stopped to look at Spillman while still seated in his vehicle, but decided to flee to get his children to safety when he saw bystanders recording. Spillman was declared dead at the scene 10 minutes later, and Amil was arrested for her murder two hours afterward. A judge denied his request for bail.

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Amil’s attorney, Seth Morris, claimed his client was scared and panicked while trying to protect himself and his passengers — including his wife, 4-month-old son, and 10-year-old daughter — from Spillman, “who was belligerent, who was trying to reach into the car, trying to hurt them,” the lawyer said.

“By charging him with murder, when he acted in lawful self-defense, when he panicked, when they’re being attacked in the streets, is outrageous, and it needs to be stopped,” Morris said, saying that Amil considered Spillman to be homeless, intoxicated, and aggressive.

Spillman reportedly lived in the area for 20 years and loved discussing music and playing the guitar, according to Derrick Guerra, a case manager at a San Francisco non-profit for LGBTQ+ elders.

She reportedly frequented the local Real Guitars retail store to discuss music history. She also organized a holiday party for store workers despite not working there herself, The San Francisco Standard reported.

An Instagram post, written by the store’s manager Jesse Cobb, commemorated Spillman, writing, “We are mourning the unexpected loss of a member of the Real Guitars family… Dannielle was a deeply kind soul with an enormous heart who would always be sure to chat you up about music, the city, life. She really listened, and she really cared. She brought a lot of warmth to our curmudgeonly little store, and she will be greatly missed for it.”

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Cobb’s post also criticized media reports for misgendering Spillman and “floating the implication that her death is somehow less important or more predictable because she was assumed to be homeless, something else that was also untrue.” The store also blasted Amil’s self-defense claim, saying that surveillance video shows the driver making a “horrible” decision to kill her.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins agreed with Cobb, telling the Standard, “My office does not believe, based on that video evidence and the statements collected thus far, that this victim posed any significant threat that would have warranted the legal use of self-defense.”

Guerra said Spillman had told him that she felt less safe in the city these days than she had in the 1990s, adding that she had recently mentioned a man trying to attack her. Guerra said a vigil will soon occur to commemorate Spillman.

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