Muhlaysia Booker, the 23-year-old transgender woman who was brutally beaten last month in a video that went viral, was found shot to death over the weekend.
The NYT reports: ‘At a news conference, Maj. Vincent Weddington said that officers found Ms. Booker shortly before 7 a.m. on Saturday, and that her identity was confirmed on Sunday. They had been responding to a report of a shooting and found Ms. Booker “lying facedown in the street, deceased from homicidal violence,” he said.’
NBCDFW reports: “Police said they had not made any arrests in connection to Booker’s death and said Sunday they do not believe there is a connection with the April assault.”
The man who beat Booker in April, Edward Dominic Thomas, was offered $200 to deliver the beating, according to reports. The attack was being investigated as a hate crime, but Dallas police Lt. Vincent Weddington told NBCDFW that “Thomas was no longer in jail and police did not know where he was. However, there was nothing to connect Thomas to Booker’s death, Weddington said.”
Booker’s murder is not being investigated as a hate crime.
At a press conference following the attack in April, Booker said, “This time, I can stand before you, whereas in other scenarios, we are at a memorial. Our time for justice is now. This time it was me. The next time could be someone else close to you.”
