Transgender woman murdered in Kansas City identified as Brooklyn Lindsey

After Kansas City, Missouri police began investigating the death of a transgender woman last week, she has been identified as Brooklyn Lindsey. She is the 11th known transgender woman killed in the US in 2019, all of whom have been black women.

Authorities found Lindsey’s body on the porch of an abandoned home in the early hours of 25 June. GSN first reported on her death last week, before Lindsey was identified.

At the time, police Sgt. Adam Painter confirmed there were signs of trauma on her body.

Now, Kansas City police have ruled her death a homicide after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots when the investigation first began.

‘She was outgoing, happy-go-lucky. She always liked helping people, doing what she can,’ Lindsey’s friend, Raven Johnson, told BuzzFeed News.

‘No one should have her life taken the way her life was taken.’

It happened before in the same location

According to CNN, another transgender woman was killed four years ago at the same intersection where Lindsey died.

Tamara Dominguez, a trans Latina woman, was repeatedly run over in 2015 at this same spot in Kansas City. A jury found Luis Sanchez guilty in December 2018. The judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison.

This violence against transgender women of color is horrifyingly and heartbreakingly common.

Most recently, Zoe Spears was shot and killed in Maryland on 13 June. Over 300 supporters turned out at a vigil on Friday (21 June) to mourn the loss of Spears and another trans Maryland woman, Ashanti Carmon.

The life expectancy of transgender people in the US is just 35-years-old and it’s worse for trans women of color worldwide.

At the first Democratic debate this week, one candidate — Cory Booker — brought up the violence against the transgender community.

‘We do not talk enough about Trans Americans, especially African-American trans Americans. And the incredibly high rate of murder right now,’ he said.

See also

Joe Kennedy III condemns ICE for death of trans refugee in letter

‘Trans power’: LGBTI protesters descend on Trump Tower in NYC

Trans hate crimes surge 81% in the UK