A 20-year-old
man has been charged with murder in the case of Merci Mack, 22, a Black
transgender woman who was shot to death at an apartment complex in Dallas July
30.
Dallas police
arrested Angelo Walker last Wednesday, The Dallas Morning News reports. He was being
held in the Dallas County Jail, with bail set at $900,000.
A witness said
he saw Walker pursuing Mack in the apartment complex’s parking lot and shooting
at her, the Morning News reports, based on an affidavit from
the arrest warrant. At one point she was lying on the ground and Walker was
continuing to fire at her, according to the affidavit.
The witness
and anonymous tipsters said Walker and Mack were arguing over a video of the
two of them that she intended to share with others. The content of the video
remains unknown.
Mack’s family
and friends expressed relief that an arrest had been made. They described her
as an upbeat person who doted on her niece and nephews.
“That’s the
kind of auntie she was: ‘I don’t care what your mama said, come get in this
car, and we’re going to get some ice cream.’ They loved her,” her sister
Tyeshia Rickett told the Morning News.
Ta’tiana
Waites, a longtime friend of Mack’s, said she was outspoken, generous, and
funny. “She should be here right now,” Waites added.
Shannon
Walker, founder of Nu Trans Movement in Dallas, blamed the violent deaths of
trans women on homophobia and transphobia.
“We’re dealing with a generation of
men that are just not ready to face the music and just not ready to embrace
their sexuality and the experiences and the feelings that they’re having for
trans women of color,” she told the Morning News. “And that’s
just the bottom line.”
Mack is one of
at least 21 trans and gender-nonconfirming people who have become homicide
victims this year. Most have been Black and Latinx women.
SOURCE: ADVOCATE
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