Ashanti Carmon Found Dead Amid Ongoing Violence Against Trans Women

Ashanti Carmon, a Black trans woman, was shot and killed outside of Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

Responding to numerous phone calls about gunshots fired near D.C. city limits, Fairmount Heights police officers say that they found Carmon at about 6:23 a.m. on the Maryland side of Eastern Avenue, a spokesperson for the department told local ABC affiliate WJLA 24/7 News. She was shot multiple times.

The department hasn't found a motive or identified a suspect and have handed the investigation over to Prince George's County in Maryland.

Carmon's fiance, Phillip Williams, told NBC Washington that he and Carmon had gone out for dinner and a movie the night before she was found dead and that they parted ways after their date.

"Until I leave this Earth, I'm going to continue on loving her in my heart, body, and soul," Williams said. "She did not deserve to leave this Earth so early, especially in the way that she went out. She did not deserve that."

Carmon's shooting death comes amidst an ongoing epidemic of violence against trans women of color in the United States that claimed 31-year-old Dana Martin's life in January. At least 25 trans people were killed in 2018, per TransGriot reporter Monica Roberts, the majority of whom were Black and/or Latina. Fatal violence against trans women of color has risen steadily over the past five years, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs said in their most recent report on anti-LGBTQ+ hate violence.

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