Believe in Highland Park accused of murdering a transgender woman
Carlos Scotland is facing charges in the death of Ashia Davis in June 2023, according to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
A transgender girl who was found shot to death in a Highland Park resort in June of this year has been arrested and charged with the murder of an 18-year-old.
Carlos Lamar Scotland, a 17-year-old at the time, was charged under the direction of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. He’s charged with first-degree murder, felony weapons, resisting and obstructing officers, and carrying a concealed weapon.
“It’s troubling on some levels,” Worthy said when asked about the suspect’s age.
On June 1, 2023, Davis was shot inside a room at a resort on Woodward near Seven Mile. Some members of the trans community occasionally stay at this resort.
Ashia Davis crime charges announced
The suspect in the 2023 death of transgender girl Ashia Davis was named as Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
Worthy claimed that Scotland was arrested this year, on March 12.
Worthy and the police declined to provide more information about the incident, including whether it might have involved a hate crime. Officials aren’t revealing whether Davis and Scotland were friends.
According to Worthy, “She was cruelly murdered on the first day of Pride Month.”
The death had a chilling effect throughout the city’s LGBTQ+ area, with many praying for anyone with information to come forth.
“When we talk about the LGBTQ community exclusion, trans women of color, especially, experience the most murder,” said Julisa Abad after the murder.
Abad is the director of outreach, trans advocacy, and a victim advocate for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
“She was loving – she was kind – she fed animals – she often stopped and helped poor people,” she said.
When Davis was assassinated nine months before, Abad lost a close friend.
Lawyers say they can prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt, but they declined to comment on a potential motive, despite acknowledging the dangerous stigma that many trans people experience.
“I totally feel there’s a pretty large atmosphere of hate for the LGBTQ,” said Kam Towns, Fair Michigan Justice Project. “When they pursue members of the LGBTQ community, I feel like people are more ruthless than they once were because they don’t hide in the shadows as much as they once did.
“Actually, for Ashia Davis, on the first day of Pride.
It once more illustrates the cruelty that my community experiences, even during a month when they are supposed to be celebrating being their true selves.
According to Abad, transgender women of color have an average life expectancy of 35 years. Davis was only shy of her 35th birthday.
“We hope that will deliver another message to everyone that we’re serious about prosecuting these cases,” Worthy said.
