TDOR vigil is set for Monday at the Interfaith Peace Chapel
From Staff Reports
At least 25 transgender people have died violently in the United States over the last 12 months, and on Monday, Nov. 20, the North Texas community will gather to honor them and the nearly 300 other trans people murdered around the world since last year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Dallas’ Transgender Day of Remembrance event takes place at the Interfaith Peace Chapel at Cathedral of Hope, 5910 Cedar Springs Road, at 7 p.m. Monday.
Transgender speakers will describe their own experiences with violence, and parents of transgender youth will speak about the struggles they’ve endured and how they love their children.
Those who knew local victims will speak about them.
Following the event, attendees will go to the Legacy of Love monument, on the corner of Oak Lawn Avenue and Cedar Springs Road, for a candlelight vigil at about 9 p.m.
Transgender men and women who have died violently in the U.S. in 2017 are:
Jan. 1. Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, 28, an American Indian woman who identified as transgender and two-spirit, was found dead in her apartment in Sioux Falls, S.D. Joshua Rayvon LeClaire, 25, has been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter in connection with her death. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death or to life in prison.
Jan. 4. Mesha Caldwell, 41, of Canton, Miss., was murdered the evening of Jan. 4. She had been shot several times. Caldwell was well known in her community as a hairdresser and makeup artist and was well-liked, friends said. The murder is still under investigation and no suspects have been arrested.
Jan. 6. Sean Hake, 23, a transgender man in Sharon, Penn., died after he was shot by police responding to a 911 call from his mother. Police said that Hake threatened to cut his mother’s throat with a razor blade and then, when officers arrived and got out of their car, Hake advanced on them with a utility knife, refusing orders to drop the weapon. Authorities said no charges would be filed in connection with his death.
Feb. 8. JoJo Striker, 23, was shot to death in Toledo, Ohio. Her body was found in a garage with a single gunshot wound to the torso. Police have named no suspects in her murder. As often happens, Striker was misgendered in initial reports.
Feb. 19. Jaquarrius Holland, 18, a homeless trans woman, was killed with a single gunshot to the head in Monroe, La., following an argument with a man named Malcom Derricktavios Harvey. Harvey was arrested in March. Holland was misgendered in initial news and police reports.
Feb. 21. Tiara Richmond, also known as Keke Collier, 24, became the second trans woman murdered in Chicago in six months when she was shot to death in the Englewood neighborhood on the city’s South Side. Police said Richmond was sitting in a car when the man in the car with her shot her and then fled, leaving her body laying on the ground, with gunshot wounds to her chest, hand and arm. There have been no arrests made in connection with her death. Officials initially misgendered and dead-named Richmond.
Feb. 25. Chyna Gibson, 31, a well-known entertainer in the ballroom community who performed under the name Chyna Doll Dupree, was shot to death outside a shopping center on the east side of New Orleans, having traveled there from her home in California to visit family for Mardi Gras. Friends said she had helped them with their makeup for the Zulu Ball earlier in the evening and that one friend had dropped her off near a relative’s home about 8:30. Police found her bullet-riddled body lying between two cars; neighbors said they heard between 8 and 10 gunshots. Two “persons of interest” in her murder were questioned by police on March 9.
Feb. 27. Ciara McElveen, 26, a transgender woman of color, was stabbed to death in New Orleans. Witnesses said that they saw McElveen arguing with a man in a black Camaro, parked at the curb near the intersection of Claiborne and Columbus streets in the 7th Ward. They said the man got out of the car, walked around and opened the passenger side door, pulled McElveen from the car and slammed her face down on the ground before getting back in the car and driving away. Police video from nearby cameras show the suspect and his car but police have made no arrests. Although McElveen was murdered just two days after Chyna Gibson, New Orleans police said they had no evidence linking the two killings.
March 22. Alphonza Watson, 38, was shot and killed in Baltimore, Md., She was found about 4:15 a.m., shot in the stomach, in the 2400 block of Guilford Avenue, about half a mile from her home on N. Charles Street. She died shortly after at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Witnesses told police they heard someone yelling for help, followed by gunshots. They told police they saw two men run to get into a dark-colored vehicle and speed away. Police are still looking for suspects in her death, and in the death of Crystal Edmonds, a 32-year-old trans woman shot to death in September 2016, about 5 miles from where Watson was murdered.
April 9. Kenne McFadden, 27, was found in the San Antonio River on April 9. Police, who at first misgendered McFadden, initially classified her death as an accidental drowning. About two months later, however, they changed the cause of death to homicide and said they had interviewed a “person of interest in the case,” and that the suspect was in jail on unrelated charges.
April 21. Chayviss Reed, 28, was shot and killed in the West Little River area of Miami-Dade County. Reports said Reed was running from her attacker when she was killed. No arrests have been made.
April 25. Kenneth Bostick, 59, a black trans man struggling with mental health issues, died of a severe head injury after lying on the sidewalk outside a Chelsea restaurant for about 30 minutes before help arrived. He had been hit in the head with a metal object by another homeless man in an apparently unprovoked attack. Police arrested 26-year-old Joseph Griffin and charged him with manslaughter and criminal mischief.
May 16. Sherrell Faulkner, 46, died on May 16 of injuries sustained during an attack on Nov. 30, 2016, in Charlotte, N.C. She was found laying on the ground near a dumpster, suffering from severe injuries, in the city’s LGBT neighborhood. No arrests have been made at this point.
June 13. Kendra Marie Adams, 28, was found in a building under construction with burns on her body. Police have charged Michael Davis, 45, with Adams’ murder. Adams also went by Josie Berrios, the name used in initial media reports on her death, and performed as a founding member of the House of Merlot as Kimbella Rosé.
June 25. Ava Le’Ray Barrin, 17, was shot in the chest and killed in Athens, Ga., during an argument with Jalen Breon Brown, 21, in an apartment parking lot. Brown claimed he killed Barrin in self defense, but he was arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. Police said the argument started out between friends of the two.
July 2. Ebony Morgan, 28, was shot multiple times in Lynchburg, Virginia, in the early morning of July 2. Morgan was transferred to a local hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. Authorities have named Kenneth Allen Kelly Jr. as a person of interest in the case.
July 31. TeeTee Dangerfield, 32, was shot and killed July 31 in Atlanta, Ga. According to the Georgia Voice, Dangerfield “was found with multiple gunshot wounds outside of her vehicle at the South Hampton Estates apartment complex.” Tyrone Kemp, 26, was arrested Aug. 22 and charged with her murder.
Aug. 12. Gwynevere River Song, 26, was shot to death in Waxahachie, reportedly during an argument in her home. According to their Facebook profile, River Song identified as “femandrogyne” and a member of the bisexual community. A spokesman for the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office at the time said that a second person was hospitalized with injuries following the incident that left River Song dead. Although some accounts identified that second person as River Song’s father, the Ellis County SO did not confirm that. A sheriff’s office spokesman told Dallas Voice on Wednesday, Nov. 15, that no arrest has been made in the case, but that it will be presented to a grand jury “in the near future.” And while he did not comment on whether the father was a suspect in River Song’s shooting, the spokesman did indicate that River Song’s father was the second person injured in the incident and that he was stabbed,
Aug. 22. Kiwi Herring, 30, was killed during an altercation with St. Louis police following an altercation with her neighbor. Relatives told Huffpost that Herring had complained numerous times about threats from and harassment by her transphobic neighbor. Police — who were reporting to a domestic disturbance call and said they found Herring already suffering from cuts to her face, arms and chest — said Herring had “severely cut” a neighbor who she suspected of starting a fire on her balcony and that when officers arrived, she lunged at them with a kitchen knife. Two officers fired at her, striking her five times, and killing her in front of her spouse, Kristy Thompson, also a trans woman, and their sons, ages 4, 7 and 8. Family and friends accused officers of “executing” Herring. Thompson was arrested and charged with assault. The night after Thompson was killed, during a vigil in her memory, a man was arrested for driving toward the protestors as they marched, honking his horn and trying to drive through the crowd. Three protestors were injured, and the driver was arrested and faced felony charges.
Sept. 3. Ally Steinfeld, 17, was stabbed to death in Missouri allegedly at her girlfriend’s house. Briana Calderas, 24, who had begun dating Steinfeld about a week before her death, reportedly said that she wanted Steinfeld dead, and police say that Andrew Vrba, 18, accommodated Calderas by torturing and killing Steinfeld in Calderas’ home. Vrba reportedly said he first tried to poison Steinfeld, but when she didn’t drink the tainted liquid, he stabbed her multiple times, gouging out her eyes and mutilating her genitals. Calderas and another woman, Isis Schauer, 18, then helped Vrba dispose of Steinfeld’s body, burning her and hiding the remains in a garbage can near a chicken coop. Vrba, Calderas and Schauer all face first-degree felony murder charges. James Grigsby, 25, faces lesser charges for helping dispose of Steinfeld’s body.
Sept. 5. Kashmire Nazier Redd, 28, of Gates, N.Y., was fatally stabbed by his partner, 40-year-old Doris E Carrasquillo in what police described as a domestic dispute. Carrasquillo was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
Sept. 12. Derricka Banner, 26, was found shot to death inside are car in Charlotte, N.C., around 3 a.m., just a few days before the city’s annual Trans Pride celebration. Later that same day, Montavious Sanchez Berry, 18, was arrested and charged with murder, armed robbery and shooting into an occupied vehicle.
Sept. 16. Scout Schultz, 21, was shot and killed by a Georgia Tech campus police responding to a call about “a [possibly intoxicated] person with a knife or a gun,” a call possibly made by Schultz herself. Police reports indicate that Schultz ignored their orders to drop the multi-tool that she was carrying and instead advanced on them carrying the implement, which included a small knife. Officer Tyler Beck, who officials said was a certified peace officer but had not undergone crisis intervention training, was the officer who shot and killed Schultz. Schultz’s family say that officers could have subdued her without using deadly force. Beck was later put on paid leave.
Oct. 21. Stephanie Montez, 47, was found shot to death along a county road near Robstown, Texas, a suburb of Corpus Christi. She had been shot in the chest, abdomen and shoulder. Montez was misgendered in initial reports, referred to in an Nueces County Sheriff’s Office report as “a man in a dress.” Her murder remains under investigation.
Oct. 29. Candace Towns, 30, a transgender woman found shot to death in Bibb County, Ga., was the 23rd homicide in that county this year, and the 25th known trans person killed in the U.S. this year. She was found Oct. 31 between a blighted house and a burned one at the end of a driveway near downtown Macon about six miles away from the hotel where she had been staying. She had been shot in the face. She was last seen alive before dawn on Oct. 29, and surveillance video at the hotel where she was staying showed her getting into a gold or tan sedan. The black man driving the car is considered a suspect in the murder. In 2009, Towns had been attacked and was shot in the ankle just a block or two from where her body was found on Halloween this year. No one was ever charged in that assault.
