The 29-year-old journalist and author was shot dead by dissident republicans while watching a riot in the Creggan area of Londonderry.
The murder of Lyra McKee in Londonderry in 2019 prompted an outpouring of condemnation and grief which quickly spread beyond Northern Ireland and went around the world.
The 29-year-old journalist and author was shot dead by dissident republicans while watching a riot in the Creggan area of Londonderry.
The killing sparked widespread outrage and led to pressure being exerted on politicians to break an impasse and start talks to restore the then suspended powersharing institutions at Stormont.
Former Irish president Michael D Higgins, then prime minister Theresa May and former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were among the mourners who attended her funeral.
Originally from Belfast, Ms McKee had only recently moved to Derry before she was killed, to live with her partner Sara Canning.
She had tweeted about the “absolute madness” in Londonderry in the hours before she was shot dead.
Ms McKee rose to prominence in 2014 after a blog post called “Letter to my 14-year-old self” in which she spoke about the struggle of growing up gay in Belfast.
In subsequent years, her letter was turned into a short film, she became a published author and she had signed a two-book deal with Faber & Faber, as well as appearing in domestic and international publications.
Named as one of the “30 under 30 in media” by Forbes Magazine in 2016, Ms McKee was cited for her passion of “digging into topics that others don’t care about”.
She was killed just weeks before her book, Angels With Blue Faces, was due to be published.
The non-fiction book was about the Troubles-era cold case murder of South Belfast MP Rev Robert Bradford.
She had also been an editor for California-based news site Mediagazer, a trade publication covering the media industry.
The National Union of Journalists described Ms McKee as one of the most promising journalists in Northern Ireland.
She was also regarded as a hero to many in the LGBT community in Northern Ireland.
Public outrage over her death placed immense pressure on politicians to break a two-year political deadlock at Stormont, at a time when the devolved powersharing institutions were suspended.
The reaction to her killing helped kickstart political talks in 2019 as part of a bid to break the stalemate.
Paying tribute at Ms McKee’s funeral, her sister Nichola Corner said: “We have the power to create the kind of society that Lyra envisioned.
“One where labels are meaningless.
“One where every single person is valued.
“One where every single child gets the chance to grow up and to make their dreams come true.”
She added: “In the words of Lyra herself, we must change our own world one piece at a time, now let’s get to work.”
