Transgender woman who was attacked by homophobic mob in April found dead with gunshot wound in Dallas
A transgender woman who caught the nation's attention after a video of her being brutally attacked in a Dallas parking lot last month was fatally shot this weekend.
According to a press release by the Dallas Police Department, deputies responded to a shooting call at the 7200 block of Glen Valley Drive at approximately 6.44 am on Saturday, May 18. On arrival, they found the body of a woman, lying face down on the public street.
Over the course of the subsequent investigation, they identified the victim as 23-year-old Muhlaysia Booker, the same black, transgender woman who was the victim of a vicious attack on April 12. Dallas Fire-Rescue, who had also responded to the scene along with the Dallas Police Department, pronounced that Booker had "deceased from homicidal violence".
We had previously reported that the earlier attack unfolded after Booker was involved in a minor traffic accident in the parking lot outside the Royal Crest Apartments in Dallas. A video of the incident that soon went viral showed a crowd of people around the 23-year-old, who can be seen wearing a pink wig and a blue tank-top.
As the attack continued, the video showed one of the attackers laughing with another man in a white shirt and pants who later charged at Booker, threw her to the ground, and then punched her repeatedly as she struggled.
Two or three others joined in and started kicking her, with the attackers allegedly using homophobic slurs during the incident. Some voices in the background can be heard screaming for the group to stop, and eventually, a group of women managed to take her to safety and drove her away in a car to a hospital.
The assault left Booker with a concussion and a fractured wrist, and Dallas Police arrested the man in the white shirt and pants, identified as 29-year-old Edward Dominic Thomas, in connection to the attack. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, we had reported earlier.
At the time, Pierre Booker, her father, had condemned Thomas for the attack and said his daughter had faced hatred in the past for being transgender as well. Her grandmother also expressed support for her, saying, "All I tell them you know is I love them. "I love them for whoever they are. And I'm not God, I'm not the judge, I'm not the jury."
At a news conference following her death this weekend, Maj. Vincent Weddington said there was no evidence linking the killing to the earlier attack. He also revealed that Thomas was no longer in custody with the department but that there was no indication he was connected to her death.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, who had previously said he was "angered" by the attack on Booker, said he was "deeply saddened to learn of the murder of Muhlaysia Booker" and asked anyone with information on the homicide to contact the Dallas Police.
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