A total of 44 known trans people were killed in the US last year, with the murder of Alexandria Winchester being the latest confirmed case of anti-trans violence in the country. According to Out, Winchester, a 24-year-old Latinx trans woman, was found dead on December 26 in the Bronx neighbourhood of New York after suffering gunshot wounds. Local police have arrested a suspect but not publicly announced their identity.
Winchester was reportedly a client of the Ali Forney Centre, which provides support to homeless LGBTQ+ youth, which shared a tribute on Facebook: “This week we learned that one of our clients, Alexandria Winchester, a young transgender woman of colour, was murdered on the streets of our city. The details about her murder are still emerging, and it is believed she knew her murderer. We do not know whether she was targeted because of her identity. We are shattered, but our dedication is not broken.”
Winchester was killed only one day after another trans woman, Courtney Eshay Key, was shot dead in Chicago. According to the Human Rights Campaign (HCR), 2020 is the deadliest year on record for trans Americans. After the death of Winchester, associate director of the transgender justice initiative at HCR, Lindsey Clark, said: “Alexandria mattered to her community and to the world. The loss of another transgender person in 2020 is devastating. Last year was the deadliest year for fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people that we have ever tracked. This is unacceptable. We must all come together and work to bring this violence to an end.”
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