Atlanta police investigating 3 ‘violent crimes’ towards transgender girls, together with documentary star – Alokito Mymensingh 24
Atlanta police mentioned they’re actively investigating three “crimes of violence” towards transgender girls that occurred this 12 months.
The announcement comes after two black transgender girls had been fatally shot within the metropolis per week aside. The investigation right into a January taking pictures that left a transgender lady in vital situation additionally stays open, police mentioned.
“Whereas these particular person incidents are unrelated, we’re conscious of the epidemic of violence going through black and brown transgender girls in America,” the Atlanta Police Division mentioned in an announcement Thursday.
The police division mentioned it’s contemplating the chance that the shootings had been hate-motivated, however that in these circumstances “our investigators have discovered no proof that the sufferer was focused as a result of he was transgender or a member of the LGBTQ+ group.” was”.
The division added that the acts of violence didn’t look like random.
The latest incident occurred on Tuesday night. Officers had been responding to studies of a lady affected by a gunshot wound at a mall. The sufferer was pronounced lifeless on the scene.
Police haven’t publicly recognized the sufferer, though a relative confirmed to WSB, an ABC Atlanta affiliate, that it was Rasheeda Williams, 35, an aspiring musician whose music was credited on Showtime drama The Chi ought to be seen.
On this January 21, 2023 file picture, Koko Da Doll attends the “Kokomo Metropolis” premiere on the 2023 Sundance Movie Pageant in Park Metropolis, Utah.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Pictures, FILE
Williams, aka Koko Da Doll, additionally starred in Kokomo Metropolis, a documentary about black transgender intercourse employees in Georgia and New York that gained awards at this 12 months’s Sundance Movie Pageant.
D. Smith, the movie’s director, mentioned in an Instagram put up that “Rasheeda, aka Koko Da Doll, was the youngest sufferer of violence towards black transgender girls.”
“I needed to create photographs that didn’t present the trauma or homicide statistics of transgender life. I needed to create one thing contemporary and galvanizing. I did this. We did! However right here we’re once more,” Smith mentioned. “This can be very tough to course of Koko’s dying, however as a group we are actually extra inspired than ever to encourage the world together with her story.”
Per week earlier than Koko Da Doll’s dying, one other black transgender lady was killed in Atlanta. Police entered an condominium advanced at round 4:22 am on April 11 and located the sufferer with an obvious gunshot wound. She was pronounced lifeless on the scene.
“Preliminary data signifies that this taking pictures was the results of a dispute,” police mentioned.
Police haven’t publicly recognized the sufferer on this case, though family and friends instructed WSB that the sufferer was 37-year-old hairdresser Ashley Burton.
“Ashley’s household knew her as a assured lady who’s snug in her personal pores and skin and a proud member of the transgender group,” mentioned Tori Cooper, the Human Rights Marketing campaign’s director of group engagement for its Transgender Justice Initiative, in an announcement. “Although she is not with us, we’ll always remember the affect Ashley left on her group, family and friends.”
The Human Rights Marketing campaign mentioned Burton’s dying was no less than the ninth “violent homicide” of a transgender or gender-nonconforming particular person this 12 months — stressing “no less than” as a result of “too usually these deaths go unreported — or are misreported.” “
Atlanta police are additionally investigating a taking pictures that befell at an condominium advanced on the evening of January ninth. A transgender lady was taken to hospital in vital situation.
“Preliminary data signifies that an argument broke out between the sufferer and a male suspect earlier than the taking pictures,” police mentioned.
Anybody with data relating to these circumstances is urged to name Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477 or to submit a declare on-line. A reward of as much as $2,000 is being provided for data resulting in an arrest and legal costs.
