Black trans woman apparently shot to death in Texas, America’s deadliest state for trans people, and deadnamed by media
A 22-year-old trans woman was found dead in an East Oak Cliff parking lot in Dallas, Texas (YouTube/CBSDFW)
A 22-year-old Black trans woman was found dead in a parking lot in Dallas, Texas, the latest victim in the epidemic of violence against trans people in the US.
Police say they do not know the woman’s name as her next of kin would only give them her deadname. Her former identity is now being widely reported in local media.
The woman was found unconscious by a passerby in the Rosemont Apartments parking lot around 6.15 am on Tuesday (July 30), police said.
The Dallas Fire and Rescue service responded and pronounced her dead at the scene from apparent gunshot wounds.
Residents of the nearby apartment complex told police they heard gunshots around 5 am, but it seems no one alerted authorities as there are no records of 911 calls at that time from that location.
Police are now asking for the community’s assistance with any additional information about the woman.
Anyone who knows anything about her final hours is asked to contact detective Brian Tabor of the Dallas Police Department Homicide Unit by phone at 214-671-3605 quoting the case no. 114244-2020.
Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to the arrest and indictment for this felony offence.
Though little is known about the unidentified woman’s murder, Black trans women in America routinely fall victim to the heightened rates of violence and prejudice.
Texas currently leads the nation in transgender murders, with more trans people killed there than any other state. Nearly half of those deaths occurred in Dallas, including those of Muhlaysia Booker, Chynal Lindsey and Brittany White.
Robyn ‘Pocahontas’ Crowe, a Texan trans woman and member of Booker and Lindsey’s chosen family, has pointed to politics as the underlying problem.
“Why it’s happening more in Texas now is we don’t have transgender laws that cover our rights … People feel like they can get away with more,” she said to Dallas News.
“There’s always been violence. But they’re killing us now.”
