Denver Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the suspects involved in an attack outside a downtown bar that left a transgender woman with severe injuries and her face paralyzed.
The attack took place on Sunday, April 28, around 1:20 a.m. as the victim was leaving the Tavern Lodo.
Cell phone video shows the victim, Amber Nicole, almost getting into a car, before turning back towards the bar. The attack occurs off camera, but she is later seen being helped into a car by a friend.
Amber said her friend realized they were both covered in blood because she was bleeding so much from the attack.
Her friend drove Amber to the the hospital, where she was treated for broken bones in her face and a broken jaw, which had to be wired shut. She also suffered nerve damage that left the right side of her face partially paralyzed.
Doctors say they don’t know if it will be permanent, reports Denver’s CBS 4.
Police are asking anyone with information about the attack to contact them via their Crime Stoppers hotline at 720-913-7867.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Amber with medical costs. Amber says she and other transgender people are just trying to live their lives, but some people can’t seem to accept their existence.
Her mother, Juls Martinez, says she’s angry that no one stepped in to stop the attack or report it to police.
“I was horrified to see my baby like that and all I could do was thank God that she was alive, but then I didn’t even know if she would wake up,” Martinez said. “Then I was just so angry because things were running through my head like how? Who? Why?! … There’s so many people who can see an incident and stop it or do something about, or make a report about it, but nobody does and I don’t understand why.”
Martinez is echoing calls from police asking anybody with information about her daughter’s attack to help with the investigation.
“Just come forward, please, say something and don’t allow these things to happen,” she said.
Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud was arrested in West Palm Beach after allegedly trying to run down members of an LGBTQ running group during a meet-up in a local park. The Florida man faces two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and one count of reckless driving.
El Mahmoud could also face hate crime charges or bias enhancements for allegedly targeting the group because of their sexual orientation.
According to West Palm Beach police, El Mahmoud allegedly took offense at what he perceived as a comment about his sexual orientation when a runner asked if he was at Howard Park for the "Night Runners West Palm Beach" group's regular meet-up.
A Florida man has been arrested and charged with the murder of Girlalala, a 21-year-old transgender TikTok influencer, after allegedly shooting her during what appears to have been a dispute between the couple.
Broward County Sheriff's Office deputies say 25-year-old Shanoyd Whyte Jr. shot Girlalala shortly before 7 p.m. on Friday, November 14, while the two were sitting in a car on the side of the road in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida.
According to Miami-based WPLG, video from a nearby Tesla shows a man believed to be Whyte getting out of the driver's side of a sedan as Girlalala tries to exit the passenger side. He appears to grab her by the hair and force her back inside before pacing outside the car with a cellphone in hand.
Justine Lindsay, the NFL's first out transgender cheerleader, recently revealed that she was fired this year, a decision she alleges was motivated by transphobia and Donald Trump's election as president.
"I was cut because I'm trans," Lindsay said in an Instagram Live with Gaye Magazine. "I don't wanna hear nobody saying, 'She didn't wanna come back.' Why the hell would I not wanna come back to an organization that I've been a part of for three years? That makes no sense to me. So I was cut. I was devastated. It stung. I was hurt."
Lindsay, who made history as the NFL's first transgender cheerleader when she tried out and made the Carolina Panthers's TopCats squad in 2022, told the magazine that her teammates "know the truth" about the decision to cut her from the squad.
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