Hundreds gather on a Seattle beach to remember an American activist killed by the Israeli military

SEATTLE (AP) — For her 26th birthday in July, human rights activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi gathered friends for a bonfire at one of her favorite places, a sandy beach in Seattle where green-and-white ferries cruise across the dark, flat water and osprey fish overhead.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of people traveled to the same beach in grief, love and anger to mourn her. Eygi was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers last Friday in the occupied West Bank, where she had gone to protest and bear witness to Palestinian suffering.

“I can't imagine what she felt like in her last moments, lying alone under the olive trees,” one of her friends, Kelsie Nabass, told the crowd at the vigil. “What did she think of? And did she know all of us would show up here tonight, for her?”

Eygi, who also held Turkish citizenship, was killed while demonstrating against settlements in the West Bank. A witness who was there, Israeli protester Jonathan Pollak, said she posed no threat to Israeli forces and that the shooting came during a moment of calm, following clashes between stone-throwing protesters and Israeli troops firing tear gas and bullets.

The Israeli military said Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by its soldiers, drawing criticism from American officials, including President Joe Biden, who said he was “outraged and deeply saddened” her killing.

“There must be full accountability,” Biden said in a statement released Wednesday. “And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”

The deaths of American citizens in the West Bank have drawn international attention, such as the fatal shooting of a prominent Palestinian American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, in 2022 in the Jenin refugee camp. The deaths of Palestinians who do not have dual nationality rarely receive the same scrutiny.

Eygi's family has demanded an independent investigation.

On Thursday, Turkey’s justice minister said his country is investigating Eygi’s death. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office was leading the Turkish probe. Tunc said Turkey would present its findings to a U.N. court overseeing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa over the war in Gaza.

“We will take every judicial step for our martyred daughter, Aysenur,” Tunc said.

As the sun set Wednesday, turning the sky on the horizon a pale orange, friends recalled Eygi as open, engaging, funny and devoted. The crowd spilled beyond a large rectangle of small black, red, green and white Palestinian flags staked in the sand to mark the venue for the vigil.

Many attendees wore traditional checked scarves — keffiyehs — in support of the Palestinian cause and carried photographs of Eygi in her graduation cap. They laid roses, sunflowers or carnations at a memorial where battery-operated candles spelled out her name in the sand.

Several described becoming fast friends with her last spring during the occupied “Liberated Zone” protest against the Israel-Hamas war at the University of Washington. Yoseph Ghazal said she introduced herself as “Baklava,” a name she sometimes used on messaging apps, reflective of her love of the sweet Mediterranean dessert.

Eygi, who attended Seattle schools and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in psychology this year, helped negotiate with the administration on behalf of the protesters at the encampment, which was part of a broader campus movement against the Gaza war.

“She felt so strongly and loved humanity, loved people, loved life so much that she just wanted to help as many as she could,” Juliette Majid, 26, now a doctoral student at North Carolina State University, said in an interview. “She had such a drive for justice.”

Eygi’s uncle told a Turkish television station that she had kept her trip a secret from at least some of her family, blocking relatives from her social media posts. Turkish officials have said they are working to repatriate her body for burial, per the family’s wishes.

Turkey’s foreign ministry says all measures related to bringing the body of Eygi, “who was “intentionally” killed by Israeli soldiers, to Turkey have been completed and she is expected to arrive on Friday. She will be buried in Turkey. It said the case is being followed by the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv and consulate in Jerusalem.

Sue Han, a 26-year-old law student at the University of Washington, only knew Eygi for a few months after meeting her at the university encampment, but they quickly became close, laughing and blasting music in Eygi's beat-up green Subaru. Eygi would pick Han up at the airport after her travels. Most recently, Eygi greeted her with a plastic baggie full of sliced apples and perfectly ripe strawberries.

Han saw Eygi before she left. Eygi was feeling scared and selfish for leaving her loved ones to go to the West Bank with the activist group International Solidarity Movement; Han said she couldn't imagine anyone more selfless.

Eygi loved to connect people, bringing disparate friends together for coffee to see how they mixed, Han said. The same was true when she would bring people together on the beach, and it was true of the vigil, too.

“I was looking around at everybody sharing stories about Aysenur, sharing tears and hugs, and this is exactly what she would have wanted,” Han said. “These new relationships all sharing Aysenur as the starting seed — it's the legacy she would have wanted.”

Palestinian flags are seen during a vigil on Alki Beach for Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, who was killed recently in the West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Attendees bow during a silent prayer at a vigil on Alki Beach for Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, who was killed recently in the West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Ezgi is spelled in candles on the sand during a vigil on Alki Beach for Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, who was killed recently in the West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Kelsie Nabass, a friend of the 26-year old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, killed recently in the occupied West Bank, during vigil on Alki Beach, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

A Palestinian flag flutters in the breeze during a vigil on Alki Beach for Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, who was killed recently in the West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Yoseph Gazal, a friend of the 26-year old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, killed recently in the occupied West Bank, during vigil on Alki Beach, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. Eygi grew up in Seattle, attended Seattle Public Schools and graduated from the University of Washington. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Sue Han, a friend of the 26-year old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, killed recently in the occupied West Bank, during vigil on Alki Beach, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. Eygi grew up in Seattle, attended Seattle Public Schools and graduated from the University of Washington. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Zho Ragen, a friend of the 26-year old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, killed recently in the occupied West Bank, during vigil on Alki Beach, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. Eygi grew up in Seattle, attended Seattle Public Schools and graduated from the University of Washington. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Attendees listen to speakers during a vigil on Alki Beach for the death of the 26-year old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, killed recently in the occupied West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. Eygi grew up in Seattle, attended Seattle Public Schools and graduated from the University of Washington. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Attendees gather for a vigil on Alki Beach for the death of the 26-year old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, killed recently in the occupied West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. Eygi grew up in Seattle, attended Seattle Public Schools and graduated from the University of Washington. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

FILE - This undated family photo provided by the International Solidarity Movement on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, shows Aysenur Ezgi Eygi of Seattle. (Courtesy of the Eygi family/International Solidarity Movement via AP, File)

Sue Han, facing, is hugged after speaking of her friend, the 26-year old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, killed recently in the occupied West Bank, during vigil on Alki Beach, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. Eygi grew up in Seattle, attended Seattle Public Schools and graduated from the University of Washington. Left is another friend Yoseph Ghazal, who also spoke. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

A photo is placed among flowers in memory of the death of the 26-year old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi at vigil on Alki Beach, killed recently in the occupied West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. Eygi grew up in Seattle, attended Seattle Public Schools and graduated from the University of Washington. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy" Combs was expected to appear before a federal judge in New York on Tuesday after his indictment on undisclosed criminal charges.

The music mogul was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami.

The indictment detailing the charges was expected to be unsealed Tuesday morning, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

Over the past year, Combs has been sued by people who say he subjected them to physical or sexual abuse. He has denied many of those allegations and his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, called the new indictment an “unjust prosecution.”

“He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said in a statement late Monday.

Combs, 54, was recognized as one of the most influential figures in hip-hop before a flood of allegations that emerged over the past year turned him into an industry pariah.

In November, his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit saying he had beaten and raped her for years. She accused Combs of coercing her, and others, into unwanted sex in drug-fueled settings.

The suit was settled in one day but months later CNN aired hotel security footage showing Combs punching and kicking Cassie and throwing her on a floor. After the video aired, Combs apologized, saying, “I was disgusted when I did it.”

Combs and his attorneys, however, denied similar allegations made by others in a string of lawsuits.

Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for Cassie, said in a statement Tuesday that “neither Ms. Ventura nor I have any comment.”

“We appreciate your understanding and if that changes, we will certainly let you know,” he added.

A woman said Combs raped her two decades ago when she was 17. A music producer sued, saying Combs forced him to have sex with prostitutes. Another woman, April Lampros, said Combs subjected her to “terrifying sexual encounters,” starting when she was a college student in 1994.

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie and Lampros did.

Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, has gotten out of legal trouble before.

In 2001, he was acquitted of charges related to a Manhattan nightclub shooting two years earlier that injured three people. His then-protege, Shyne, was convicted of assault and other charges and served about eight years in prison.

This story has been corrected to show that Combs' age is 54, not 58.

Associated Press writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

FILE - Host Sean "Diddy" Combs presents the revolt black excellence award at the Billboard Music Awards, May 15, 2022, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected in court after New York indictment

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected in court after New York indictment

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center on May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)