As local activists claimed the suicide has increased safety concerns for some members of the town’s transgender community, ( CNN)- Prosecutors in Minneapolis are looking into whether the murder of a trans woman last month may be prosecuted under the hate crime category.
Savannah Williams was shot in the head on November 29, and a person has been accused of second-degree murder in connection with her passing.
In a statement to CNN, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty stated that” we may sue accordingly” if the inspection reveals enough evidence to prove discrimination inspiration beyond all reasonable doubt.
According to the problem, which states that Williams could receive up to 40 years in prison if found guilty, the criminal, identified as Damarean Kaylon Bible, 25, admitted to investigators that he shot Williams in the brain “from bare feet away” after a sexual encounter.
CNN has contacted Bible’s lawyer for comment.
At a news conference last week, Williams ‘ girl Gabrielle Stillday referred to her as “beautiful soul,” or “big soul,” who was adored by her community.
Stillday continued,” Savannah meant the world to me and my boys. She is our superstar.”
Williams ‘ home claimed that she was of Native American and Caribbean descent.
It is “hard to think that this violence is not related to Savannah’s Two- Spirit, trans identity,” according to Minnesota state representative Leigh Finke, who was the first transgender person to be elected to the state government.
Some Native Americans who identify as LGBTQ use the phrase” two-spirit” to describe themselves. People in some Maori and Native American groups who previously had both a masculine and feminine soul and who filled specialized social and spiritual roles are referred to by the umbrella name, which first appeared in the 1990s.
According to the Indian Health Service website of the US Department of Health and Human Services,” Usually, Native American two-spirit persons were male, female, and occasionally intersexed persons who combined activities of both men and women with traits unique to their position as two- nature people.”
Finke, who also serves as the head of the court’s Queer Caucus, acknowledged that it is up to prosecution and investigators to decide whether the affair was a hate crime, but she added that she supports the efforts made by Williams ‘ family and her attorneys to spread awareness of her passing.
Williams ‘ murder, according to Finke, is one of two recent violent assaults on transgender people in Minneapolis.
According to Finke, this is the third high-profile ( case of ) violence against queer and trans communities in Minneapolis. ” A transgender woman was attacked again at a train station not far from the scene of Savannah’s murder.”
According to Amber Muhm, an referral expert with The Aliveness Project, a Minneapolis-based organization that supports people with or at higher risk of HIV, the style of assaults in Minneapolis has stoked worry and tension in the neighborhood.
It is unquestionably a love crime, according to Muhm. We must be able to safely walk down the street. We must be able to function in common and not regularly fear for our safety.
Williams reportedly participated in the organization’s” Tea Time” support group for transgender females and transgender filles, which Muhm co-directs.
” Savannah was a devoted friend, companion, and family part. The Aliveness Project said in a statement posted on Instagram,” She was full of life, brilliantly intelligent, kind, and tender.”
It continued,” For all of us, the loss of but another part of our trans community is a source of deep problems.”
Elizabeth Wolfe and Nicole Chavez of CNN contributed to this article.
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