Two Black Trans Women Violently Killed This Week in America

Continuing a pattern of fatal violence, two more Black transgender women were killed in the recent days. The incidents, which took place in New York and Louisiana, are believed to be the 20th and 21st killings of transgender victims so far this year in the country.

In the Bronx, New York City police reported the stabbing death of a transgender woman early Sunday morning. Early reports deadnamed the victim, and her actual name has yet to be definitively confirmed. Some on social media have identified her as Tiffany Harris, but when contacted by Out, the sources of those reports delcined to confirm the victim's identity on the record. Police found the unconscious 32-year-old lying in a third-floor hallway in the Fordham Manor section of the Bronx. She was taken to Saint Barnabas hospital where she later died. The police are in now in search of a man, who was captured on surveilance cameras, for questioning in relation to the killing. At this time, police do not suspect a hate crime.

The second murder took place in Louisiana on Monday. Queasha D. Hardy, 24, was gunned down in broad daylight in Baton Rouge. She was found shortly after 1:00 p.m. lying in the street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She died at the scene.

The two murders add to an escalating toll of violence against the transgender community. The body of Merci Mack, a 22-year-old Black transgender woman was discovered in a Dallas parking lot in June. A passerby found her unconscious and suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Also in June, Riah Milton was shot several times and killed during a robbery attempt in Liberty Township, Ohio. Multiple arrests have been made in the case. The dismembered body of Dominique Rem'mie Fells was found alongside the Schuylkill River in the Bartam's Garden area of Philadelphia in June as well. Police are treating her death as a homicide.

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