Another transgender woman of color has been murdered. 25-year-old Maya Young was brutally stabbed to death Saturday evening in Philadelphia, making her the latest causality of an epidemic of violence against this marginalized community.
Philly.com originally reported:
On Tuesday, Philadelphia police confirmed that Young had been stabbed to death late Saturday in the city’s Frankford section. Her killer and motive were still a mystery.
“The community is heartbroken once again with the senseless slaying of another transgender woman of color,” Naiymah Sanchez, a coordinator with the TransHealth Information Project in Philadelphia, wrote on Facebook on Monday afternoon.
On Facebook, Young posted that she was originally from Vineland, N.J., and attended Buena Regional High School in Atlantic County. She listed her most recent home as Philadelphia. Her last public update was from 2012.
Young was stabbed in the neck and chest sometime before 11:50 p.m. Saturday, police said. Officers were called to the 4900 block of Griscom Street and found her nearby in the 4800 block of Penn Street.
During 2015 in the United States over twenty transgender women were murdered, the largest number on record. Maya Young is this year’s fifth documented trans murder. The first four were:
Monica Loera, a 43-year-old Latina woman of North Austin, Texas was murdered on January 22, 2016. A man demanded entry to her home claiming to have forgotten his jacket there. When she opened the door, he shot her. He was subsequently arrested. For days, both the media and police report identified her as a man and referred to her using her birth name David.
Kayden Clarke, a 24-year old trans man in Arizona died in a hospital on February 4 after a police shooting. Police reportedly tried to stop him from engaging in self harm but fired when he lunged at them with a 12 inch knife. Responders used his legal name Danielle.
Nadine Stransen, an artist and former transgender activist from Sydney, New South Wales was murdered on February 6, 2016. An individual published her address, former name, and current name on a webmap late January, 2016. She was found murdered in her apartment soon after on February 6, 2016.
Veronica Banks Cano, was found dead at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, February 19, fully clothed, in a bathtub at the EL Mio Motel on the 3500 block of Roosevelt Ave. on the south side of San Antonio, Texas, according to KABB-TV News. Although no additional information about a possible suspect, motive, or cause of death has been released, police say they did question individuals who were in the hotel room.
