June 18, 2020
Watch: Arrest Warrant in Pa., Indictment in Ohio for Suspects in 2 Separate Killings of Trans Women
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 3 MIN.
Even as the Trump administration was taking health care rights away from transgender Americans, the murders of two transwomen of color last week sent shockwaves through the LGBTQ community. Now law enforcement has leveled charges connected to one case, while an arrest warrant has been issued in the other.
As previously reported at EDGE, the body of Dominique "Rem'Mie" Fells was found on June 8 in the Schuykill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her body showed multiple stab wounds and had been mutilated, with both her legs having been cut off.
On June 9, Riah Milton was shot and killed in Liberty Township, Ohio; two suspects were taken into custody, and police were searching for a third suspect.
Now Ohio authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of 36-year-old Akhenaton Jones in connection with the murder of Fells, Chicago ABC affiliate Channel 7 reports.
Reported the news channel:
Some close to Fells told ABC7 Eyewitness News' Philadelphia sister station WPVI off-camera that, in the days before her murder, she was seen fighting with a male acquaintance. Police have not released any details about the investigation, including if they think this was a hate crime.
Meantime, in Philadelphia, 19-year-old Kaleb Tooson was indicted on a number of charges, including murder and car theft, in the shooting death of Milton.
Reports local Fox affiliate Channel 19:
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones has said Tooson and two other suspects, including a 14-year-old girl, lured Riah Milton, 25, of Cincinnati to Liberty Township to steal Milton's car and other belongings after meeting online.
A fight ensued during the robbery early Tuesday, June 10, and Tooson confessed to shooting Milton and accidentally shot himself in the process, Jones has said.
The news report added that though Tooson and the 14-year-old accomplice were quickly arrested, the third suspect - an unidentified 25-year-old male - has not yet been taken into custody.
In a stroke of bureaucratic violence that is perhaps less immediately destructive but far wider-reaching, the Trump administration snatched discrimination away protections in health care from transgender Americans by revising its definition of who is covered by existing law.
That policy revision took place shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that existing anti-discrimination workplace legislation covers LGBTQ employees.
The Human Rights Campaign tracks reports of lethal anti-trans violence, and even though it's thought that many instances of violence targeting trans people are either left unreported or else misreported, the numbers of trans fatalities - especially transwomen of color - has surged in recent years.
Reports the HRC:
In 2019, advocates tracked at least 26 deaths of at least transgender or gender non-conforming people in the U.S. due to fatal violence, the majority of whom were Black transgender women.
The HRC also notes that:
2020 has already seen at least 14 transgender or gender non-conforming people fatally shot or killed by other violent means.
Recent protests against police brutality targeting African Americans included several marches and rallies around the United States last weekend that took the theme of "All Black Lives Matter," and specifically acknowledged and condemned the murders of trans people of color. Those rallies included a massive event in Boston, Massachusetts; a huge turnout in the Brooklyn borough of New York City; and a march in Hollywood.
Watch the Channel 7 news clip below.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
