Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police have arrested and charged two men in the fatal shootings of two transgender women in Charlotte-area hotel rooms over the past two weeks.
On April 16, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, working with the FBI, the Union County Sheriff’s Office, and Marshville Police Department, arrested Dontarius Long and Joel Brewer and charged them in connection with the deaths of 29-year-old Jaida Peterson, who was shot to death at the Quality Inn & Suites Airport on April 4, and 28-year-old Remy Fennell, who was shot to death at the Sleep Inn on April 15.
Long and Brewer face a host of charges, including murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Both victims were later identified by friends and acquaintances as sex workers.
Police had previously warned members the LGBTQ community, especially those engaged in sex work, to exercise caution, saying that the shootings appeared to be related. They said that members of the transgender community should continue to be vigilant, although they do not believe any other individuals were involved in the murders.
Police have not said whether they believe the killings were motivated by the victims’ gender identity.
Advocates have warned that in recent years, nationwide and globally, the number of transgender women, particularly trans women of color, who have been killed in acts of violence has increased.
“This is a pandemic in our community,” Jermaine Nakia Lee, the program director for State of Emergency, a subcommittee of the Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group’s LGBTQIA Community Conversation Group, told CBS affiliate WBTV. “These trans individuals are somebody’s children, grandchild. We should care that they’re being wiped out.”
Lee noted that some transgender women are often forced to resort to sex work to survive due to discrimination, lack of acceptance, and a dearth of job opportunities.
“People have to eat, people have to make a living. Sex work is illegal in North Carolina, but it is a way of life for people who can’t find a solid position in society,” Lee said.
National organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign and the National Black Justice Coalition, mourned Peterson and Fennell’s deaths, saying more needs to be done to combat the animus directed at members of the transgender community. Peterson and Fennell are among at least 15 transgender or gender-nonconforming people who have fallen victim to fatal violence this year, according to NBJC.
“This long-standing epidemic of violence against the trans and non-binary community must end,” Victoria Kirby York, the deputy executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, said in a statement. “The surge in anti-trans murders this year reflects the devastating effects of rampant transphobia. With these harrowing instances of deadly violence and introduction of anti-trans legislation throughout the nation, trans and non-binary people of all ages are under attack and in danger.”
Kirby York criticized police and local media for initially misgendering Peterson following her death, noting that it happens all too often. She also urged local, state, and federal officials to pass laws protecting the transgender community from discrimination, marginalization, and violence, rather than the slew of more than 200 bills introduced in various state legislatures this year seeking to roll back rights or protections for LGBTQ people, specifically transgender youth.
Matt Comer, the communications director for Charlotte Pride, said the organization would continue to stress the importance of safety among transgender women in the Charlotte area, despite the arrests of Long and Brewer.
“The first priority in our minds is to get the word out and ensure everybody in the community, in particular trans women, are staying vigilant and hyper aware and safe tonight and the nights to come,” Comer said.
A 53-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder for bludgeoning an unhoused transgender woman to death as she slept on the front steps of the Miami City Ballet in Miami Beach, Florida.
Following a preliminary hearing last week, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy Glazer ordered Gregory Fitzgerald Gilbert to be held in prison without bail as he awaits trial for the murder of 37-year-old Andrea Doria Dos Passos.
According to the Miami Herald, Glazer upped the charge against Gilbert from second-degree murder to first-degree murder based on actions that appeared to show intent.
Two members of the Aryan Knights prison gang successfully pulled off a headline-grabbing escape from the custody of Idaho prison officials before murdering two men, including a gay man with whom one of the men had previously been acquainted.
According to the Boise Police Department, on March 19, Skylar Meade, a prisoner at the Idaho Maximum Security Prison, was transported to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise to be treated for self-inflicted injuries. He was discharged just after 2 a.m. on May 20.
While the 31-year-old Meade was being transported from the hospital, Nicholas "Moose" Umphenour, a former Maximum Security Prison inmate, opened fire and shot two Idaho Department of Correction officers. Umphenour and Meade then fled the scene in a gray sedan.
A South Carolina man was sentenced to 45 months in federal prison for obstructing an investigation related to the murder of a transgender woman.
Xavier Pinckney, 24, pleaded guilty in October to providing false and misleading information to authorities about the murder of Dime Doe, a.k.a Pebbles LaDime Doe.
Prosecutors claimed that, in December 2019, Pinckney had lied to investigators who were looking into Doe's death, and warned a friend, Daqua Lameek Ritter -- who was in New York at the time -- not to return to South Carolina because police were looking for Ritter and that someone was "snitching" about Ritter's past relationship with Doe.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!