2015
Every year on or around the 20th of November, trans people worldwide gather for the Transgender Day of Remembrance to remember those we have lost to violence in the past year.
These pages chronicle and honor the trans and enby folks of color that we’ve lost in the United States. Source: https://tdor.translivesmatter.info/
Trigger warning
This site contains reports of violence against transgender people.
Please continue (by scrolling down) with caution.
Age: 22
Date: 10/15/2015
Location: Gaithersburg, MD
Info: Zella was shot several times by Rico LeBlond, 22, in an alley behind the Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg. She was found with gunshot wounds to the head and groin areas.
In July 2017 LeBlond was convicted of first-degree murder.
The Montgomery County police said in charging documents at the time that LeBlond and Ziona had been friends since their school days, and that LeBlond had become upset when people found out about their friendship.
Age: 22
Date: 10/6/2015
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Info: Keisha was ambushed, beaten and shot by a group of men at around 2:30am on the morning of 6th October.
According to police she had just been dropped off by a car near Hunting Park when the men surrounded her and beat her. When she fell to the ground, one of the attackers pulled out a gun and shot her in the back twice. She died in hospital.
Pedro Redding, 22, of Hunting Park, was subsequently arrested for robbery and murder. Redding reportedly admits to beating her but insists that someone else fired the gun.
Age: 35
Date: 8/11/2015
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Info: Kandis was shot outside a friend's apartment complex at around 11:30pm on Tuesday 11th August. She died in hospital.
Her phone and purse were missing, and witnesses reported seeing a man leaving the area on foot.
A vigil was held for her on 19th August.
Kandis was just getting her life back together after transition. She had started attending church and enrolled in theology classes at South Mountain Community College.
In time she may have become a faith leader in the LGBT+ community, but instead she became yet another of our community whose loss we mourn.
What an absolutely terrible waste of a young life.
Age: 20
Date: 8/8/2015
Location: Detroit, MI
Info: Amber's body was found on the morning of Saturday 8th August. According to police, she was shot at around 5am as she got out of a vehicle near Palmer Park.
Age: 22
Date: 7/29/2015
Location: Dallas, TX
Info: Shade's decomposing body was found on a vacant field along a short residential street between Stemmons Freeway and Harry Hines Boulevard. Her exact date of death is unknown.
Date: 7/21/2015
Location: Tampa, FL
Info: India was found dead by a park employee at about 9am in a grassy area near a playground at University Area Community Center. She died as a result of blunt force trauma.
The following evening hundreds of people attended a vigil at the park where her body was found.
A week after her murder Keith Lamayne Gaillard, 18, turned himself in and was booked on charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm.
Age: 25
Date: 7/14/2015
Location: Detroit, MI
Info: Ashton's body was found in a field. Six months later Larry B. Gaulding, 39, was sentenced to 30-60 years for voluntary manslaughter and 10 years for tampering with evidence.
Ashton was genderfluid and also went by the name Jessica Storm. Reportedly at the time of their murder Ashton was using the pronouns he/him, although Equality Michigan report that they were a transgender woman, albeit one still using male pronouns.
Age: 21
Date: 5/18/2015
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Info: London was stabbed twice in the back and once in the neck in an abandoned house at around 12.40am. She died in hospital.
Her roomate Raheam Felton, 31, has been arrested. Felton, who has prior felony convictions of aggravated assault, prostitution and burglary, shared the apartment in the 2200 block of Ingersoll Street with Chanel and another transgender woman.
Age: 27
Date: 3/30/2015
Location: Ft. Meade, MD
Info: Mya died after officers shot at the car she was driving. She had taken a wrong turn and wound up on the wrong exit of a parkway which led to the Baltimore NSA headquarters.
Age: 33
Date: 3/7/2015
Location: Aurora, IL
Info: Keyshia was shot in the shoulder while driving a friend through Aurora's South Side in the early hours of 7th March. She crashed the car and died at the scene.
Her murder was not reported as being that of a trans woman until 5 months later in August.
Age: 19
Date: 2/11/2015
Location: Laurel, MD
Info: Melonie died by suicide. In death, her parents erased her identity by burying her "as a man".
Age: 21
Date: 2/10/2015
Location: New Orleans, LA
Info: Penny was shot multiple times at around 1:30am on Tuesday 10th February in what appears to have been an attempted robbery.
