Riley Fritz, bass player and animal lover, identified as among fire victims

Riley Fritz, bass player and animal lover, identified as among fire victims Riley Fritz, a garage band bass player and art school graduate who was always trailed by a rescue dog, was confirmed dead Monday in the fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland. “A very soft, sensitive, caring person,” said her father, Bruce Fritz of Westport, Conn. Riley Fritz, who was 29 and also went by the name Feral Pines, was a transgender woman and one of several queer people to perish in the inferno. “Always loved animals,” said Bruce Fritz, who noted that as her childhood Eagle Scout project Riley had built wooden bird houses and placed them around Westport in an attempt to lure back the native kestrel, a member of the falcon family. “She identified as a woman and I considered her my sister and always will,” said stepbrother Ben Fritz, 39, a Los Angeles journalist. After living in North Carolina and Indiana, Riley Fritz moved to Oakland in September, to “be part of the trans community where she was more comfortable,” said her brother.