Monika Diamond
Trans businesswoman and activist Monika Diamond, 34, was shot to death March 18 inside the back of an ambulance in Charlotte, N.C., as paramedics were treating her for shortness of breath, according to news reports.
She is, according to Human Rights Campaign, the fourth trans or gender-non-conforming person murdered this year in the U.S.
In a statement about the murder, HRC said, “Diamond was active in the Charlotte LGBTQ and nightlife community and was the co-owner and founder of Ncphyne Promotion Company LLC, an event promotion company that is about to honor its 10th anniversary, according to its Facebook pageShe also was the co-CEO of the International Mother of the Year Pageantry System — a pageant that honors LGBTQ mothers.”
According to local news station KIRO Channel 7, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and paramedics were called to the scene of a disturbance in the parking lot of a Days Inn around 3:46 a.m. March 18. Diamond, who had complained of shortness of breath, was being treated in the back of an ambulance when 32-year-old Prentice Lamar Bess — who had been turned away by paramedics earlier when he had asked to get in the ambulance with Dimaond — walked up and shot her to death.
Police arrested Bess almost immediately.
Reports note that Diamond was initially dead-named and misgendered by police and, subsequently, in early news reports.
— Tammye Nash
