Trans Woman Star Of Kokomo City Fatally Shot In Atlanta
Image: Cassandra Dempsey/Facebook
Atlanta-based transgender woman, Rasheeda Williams was fatally shot at an evening shopping centre in the city’s southwest last Tuesday.
According to Atlanta police, Williams who performed under the name Koko Da Doll was the third victim in a fatal shooting of a transgender woman since the beginning of the year.
“Upon arrival, officers located a female victim with an apparent gunshot wound. She was not alert, conscious or breathing, and pronounced deceased on scene,” Atlanta police said, as reported by the Guardian.
“Homicide investigators responded to the scene and are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Director Of Kokomo City Speaks Out
Williams had been identified by D Smith, the director of a documentary that chronicled the lives of trans women, which Williams had been a part of. Smith made the announcement on her Instagram account.
“Rasheeda, aka Koko Da Doll, was the latest victim of violence against Black transgender women,” Smith wrote.
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“I created Kokomo City because I wanted to show the fun, humanized, natural side of Black trans women. I wanted to create images that didn’t show the trauma or the statistics of murder of transgender lives.”
Atlanta Police released a statement that outlined that investigators have yet to indicate how they are treating the 35-year-old’s homicide and whether gender identity has any relation to the two other murders.
“While these individual incidents are not related, we are very aware of the epidemic-level violence that Black and brown transgender women face in America,” the department’s statement said.
“Our investigators have not found any indication the victim was targeted for being transgender or a member of the LGBTQ+ community and these cases do not appear to be random acts of violence.”
“She Was Full Of Light.”
Many expressed their grief at the loss of Williams, with artist Joey Soloway commenting on Smith’s post that meeting Williams “at Sundance was a highlight.”
“She was full of the light and the future you created with your vision. That we celebrated her presence as a signpost of progress only reminds me how absolutely blind people are to how vulnerable delicate and precious the lives of every trans person, and especially trans people of [colour] truly are,” they wrote.
