Jaheim Pugh: Video of non-binary teen bleeding to death after he was shot at a party was posted online, claims report
A gender non-conforming teenager was reportedly killed at a holiday party in Prichard, Alabama and the murder was broadcast live on Facebook on Sunday, December 13. 19-year-old Jaheim Pugh, who used both male and female pronouns, was at the said party when shots were fired. The video broadcast on social media showed Pugh wearing a rainbow-colored bodysuit as he lay huddled on the floor after being fatally hit by the bullets. Pugh's mother, Tiffany, said she heard a person on the video say about the victim, "If he wasn't wearing that dress, he would still be alive."
"You sat there for 20 minutes and recorded him on the floor," the devastated mother told WALA in December. "No CPR, nothing!"
"People hated him because of what he wore and it's not right," she added. "They took somebody special because he wore a dress."
James Lee James Jr. was charged with Jaheim Pugh's murder after he reportedly turned himself in to the police. "Whoever did it, you need to come and fess up to it," James told reporters during his arrest, according to WKRG. "All you motherf*ckers talking about I did it, you know I ain't do it. Y'all need to come down here and fess up to this man for real."
At the time of his arrest, James was reportedly out on bond for an unrelated crime. An Alabama judge denied bond for James at a December hearing, thereby setting a court hearing for February in connection with the shooting.
Pugh's family reportedly wants the incident to be investigated as a hate crime, but authorities say there is no evidence to support their claim. Crimes against gender identity or sexual orientation aren't taken into account under Alabama's current hate crime statutes.
Having said that, at least two other individuals, who have not been identified, were injured during the shooting at the holiday party where Jaheim Pugh lost his life, according to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.
In November, the FBI released data suggesting that 16.7 percent of hate crimes reported in the U.S. during 2019 were targeted at members of the LGBTQ community. 2.7 percent of those crimes were committed against transgender or gender non-conforming individuals. As reported by Newsweek, hate crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation formed the third largest category.
“Yet another year with alarming levels of bias-motivated crimes underscores just how urgent it is to address this hate crimes epidemic," Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said of 2020 crime stats in a November statement. "This year, we saw a tragic new record of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people in this country, particularly against Black and Brown transgender women."
"These alarming statistics represent real trauma for individuals and families across this country who have to bear the brunt of these hate crimes," David continued. "As the Biden-Harris administration assumes office, we must recommit ourselves to advocating for mandatory hate crimes reporting across the country, better training for law enforcement officers to recognize bias-motivated crimes, and greater inclusion and equity in our communities," he added.