A Black
transgender woman was found dead with a gunshot wound inside a vehicle that
crashed into a detached garage in Richmond, Virginia, on November 23.
It was around
5:42 a.m. three days before Thanksgiving when, Richmond police said, officers
found Chae’Meshia Simms, also known as ChaeChae, dead with a gunshot wound in
the driver’s seat of the crashed vehicle in an alley at 800 Block of Cheatwood
Avenue in the northern section of Richmond. She was pronounced dead at the
scene.
The
circumstances surrounding Simms’ death remain unclear. Authorities told Gay
City News the medical examiner will determine the cause of death for Simms, who
was in her 30s when she died, but the case is being labeled as a homicide.
There have been no arrests and no suspects have been publicly identified at
this point.
Chae’Meshia
Simms’ family is asking the LGBTQ community to help find justice
According to
News 6, a local news outlet in Richmond, Simms was driving home with her
mother’s rental vehicle at the time of the crash.
Family and
friends huddled on November 27 to remember Simms, whose sudden death has
prompted her family to demand justice. Her father is calling on the local LGBTQ
community to help search for answers in the case, according to News 6.
Simms became
the 39th known transgender or non-binary individual to suffer a violent death
this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC). Simms’ death
contributes to a record-breaking year during which Black trans women have been
murdered at shocking rates. It is possible that there are other individuals
whose deaths have not been public.
Simms is the
first known trans individual to have suffered a violent death in Virginia this
year among the 39 confirmed cases nationwide. In Texas, at least three
transgender women — including two Black trans women — have been killed this
year.
National Black
Justice Coalition executive director David J. Jones said in a written
statement that he no longer wants to talk about resiliency in the community.
Instead, he wants all efforts to focus on the pressing need to end the deadly
violence targeting trans folks.
“What I want
is for the violence that Black trans women experience to end, once and for
all,” Johns said. “There is no explanation for the continued violence that
Black trans women and femme identified members of our community face,
especially not during a global movement for Black lives. This is on us, this is
on all of us.”
SOURCE: GAY CITY NEWS
Hope we soon see the day when this stops happening altogether. 👏🏻
ReplyDelete