A transgender woman was found killed in a West Baltimore alley, prompting demands for answers and justice

By Alaa Elassar, CNN

(CNN) — Tai’Vion Lathan had an infectious laugh that made everyone around her smile. She loved getting creative with her hair, make up, and cooking, and was especially known in the family for her homemade chicken Alfredo. But more than anything, she loved her mother and never skipped a day without speaking to her.

Her family is now mourning Lathan, a 24-year-old known affectionately as ‘Tai,’ who was found fatally shot in an alley in Baltimore’s West Baltimore neighborhood on August 4, according to city police.

Police had not publicly speculated on a motive or announced an arrest in connection with the killing as of Thursday.

At least 24 transgender and gender-expansive people, including Lathan, have been killed so far in the United States this year – 42% of whom were Black transgender women, and more than 70% of whom were victims of color, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

“She was fun, loving, and caring,” Lathan’s great aunt Carolyn Robinson-Owens told CNN, adding that just next month, Lathan was to start school to become a nurse who cares for elderly patients.

“One thing I would like for the world to remember is to not just put the first definition of transgender in front of Tai’s name, and to remember that Tai’Vion was a person, and a beautiful person at that, inside and out, that she was loved by many and respected by many, and her family is going to miss her tremendously.”

Officers had received a call around 10 a.m. reporting an “unresponsive female in a rear alley in the area of West Lanvale Street” and pronounced her dead on the scene, according to police.

Homicide detectives were investigating her death and no further details regarding her death were available, Baltimore police Detective Niki Fennoy told CNN on Thursday.

The family learned of the news in the morning when Lathan’s mother went to her home looking for her after Lathan missed their daily phone call. The family soon heard that a woman’s body was found near Lathan’s home.

“When we got an opportunity to go to the scene, it was just really sad to see that someone could murder someone and leave them covered up on the ground, in the dirt in a pile of bushes,” Lathan’s great aunt Mary Robinson told CNN. “All life is valued, whether you are transgender, or regardless of your race or disability, you have to value all life.”

Baltimore police and Metro Crime Stoppers are offering an $8,000 reward for a tip that results in felony charges and an arrest in Lathan’s case. Anyone with information who wishes to remain anonymous can contact the Metro Crime Stoppers tip line, at 1-866-7LOCKUP. Anonymous tips can also be submitted online.

“The tragic death of Tai serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing violence faced by the transgender community,” nonprofit organization Baltimore Safe Haven, which provides support to LGBTQ+ people in Baltimore, said in a news release. “Community advocates are calling for justice and transparency in the investigation, as they believe that many transgender murder cases go unsolved due to issues related to gender identity. They are urging law enforcement to prioritize solving these crimes and ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice.”

‘I’m more afraid for my life’

Violence against transgender people is particularly troubling amid the introduction by federal and state governments of legislation seeking to restrict transgender health care and rights, according to Tori Cooper, the Human Rights Campaign’s trans justice initiative director.

So far in 2024, more than 600 bills labeled “anti-trans” by the research organization Trans Legislation Tracker were introduced in 43 states and federally, 45 of which have passed, Trans Legislation Tracker says.

Proposed legislation included bans on trans kids from playing sports consistent with their gender identity, access to gender-affirming care, and trans people’s ability to use restrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender.

“As transgender Americans, we shouldn’t be afraid to be who we are. The impact of anti-trans violence negatively impacts our mental health and our ability to live healthy and happy lives,” Cooper told CNN. “We all must end the harmful rhetoric and policies that make it less safe for us to live and thrive. Violence is not just within fists and guns; it’s also with laws and words.”

Transgender and gender-nonconforming people also face risks that make them particularly vulnerable to homicide, advocates have said. Some experience bias explicitly because of their gender identity.

For others, their identity makes them more likely to experience other risk factors, such as unemployment or homelessness, experts say. Transgender people experience violence at rates greater than the average person, and about 54% of transgender people have experienced some form of intimate partner violence, the Human Rights Campaign says.

“I’m very stressed and distraught about the death of Tai, especially in this time due to her tragic and violent death,” Desire Bandz, a 30-year-old transgender woman also living in Baltimore, told CNN. “I definitely don’t feel safe being a trans woman in America as a whole. I’m more afraid for my life with this political climate; with the constant threats on the lives of trans advocates, (and) better yet, on the lives of trans people of color.”

Bandz said she didn’t know Lathan, but discovered they are distant relatives following the news of her death.

“With how Tai’Vion was murdered exemplifies the inhumanity towards our community, by not only hiding her body, but also by hiding the truth,” she says. “It shows that our lives don’t matter, it shows to some people that we don’t or shouldn’t matter, it shows that people aren’t willing to speak up for our lives. It hurts so bad because I’m that same vein, so what is the value of my life then?”

A GoFundMe campaign was created to raise funds to cover Lathan’s burial arrangements and support her family.

“We’re going to make sure, just like every single homicide case that we have in the city, every non-fatal shooting that we have in the city, that the women and men in BPD track those people down and do their due diligence,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said about Lathan’s death, according to CNN affiliate WMAR.

Maryland has had 18 killings of transgender people since 2013 – the eighth-highest total by state in that time, tied with Illinois, according to HRC.

CNN’s Nia Mclean contributed to this report.

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