Share

Philadelphia Police Investigating Murder of Black Trans Woman

She was taken to Einstein Medical Center where she later died from her injuries.

Advertisement

Police are unsure whether robbery was a motive and have yet to label it a hate crime.

The men beat her and one pulled a gun, shooting her twice in the back, 6ABC reports, citing police.

The Philadelphia Police Department is asking the public for help in bringing the murderers of Keisha Jenkins to justice.

The Advocate reports Jenkins is the 20th trans woman reported murder in America in 2015. They asked anyone with information to call investigators.

Police are being very careful not to call this a hate crime at this time, but they tell CBS 3 Eyewitness News they are investigating that possibility.

Homicide detectives are searching for surveillance video as they try to identify the killers.

“Even if there’s no clear motive, we know that her identity was part of the violence that she experienced”, Jindasurat said. Investigators hope to talk to the driver of the vehicle in which she had been riding before being dropped off far from her South Philadelphia home.

Nellie Fitzpatrick, the Philadelphia mayor’s liaison to the gay community, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Jenkins’ death is, “a tremendous and tragic loss for the entire city, our LGBT community, and, more specifically, our trans community”.

Philly.com spoke with Jenkin’s friend, Arielle Page, 18, who met Jenkins two years before she transitioned.

The HCR and TPOCC are LGBTQ+ advocacy groups that have been working together since the beginning of the year to keep a running record of the violence transgender people face.

Advertisement

In May, police charged a man involved in the fatal stabbing death of 21-year-old black transgendered woman London Kiki Chanel in North Philadelphia.

Kiesha Jenkins