FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:DENVER POLICE OFFICERS MURDER UNHOUSED BIPOC TRANS WOMXNIN BROAD DAYLIGHT SUNDAY BEFORE PRIDE WEEKEND& LEFT HER BODY IN THE STREET FOR 4 HOURS

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Welcome to this year’s #DenverPride .

As queer Denverites gather this weekend and recite horrific stats about early deaths of trans womxn, orchestrate moments of silence as their names are spoken, and talk about the need to #protectourtranssisters , will that make them feel better about the fact that just last weekend, a precious member of our community lost her life to police violence?!? Or the fact that her transgender identity was intentionally omitted in police reports, press conferences, and even media to save face during this pride month?!? Or the fact that they disrespected her lifeless body by leaving it laying in the hot asphalt for over four hours?!?

At the major intersection of Broadway Ave and Lawrence St, spitting distance from the Samaritan House shelter, passerbys witnessed the heartless slaughter of a trans womxn who remains unidentified to our community even now. According to a KDVR article, this all started when “police received two calls about a woman with a knife at North Broadway and Lawrence Street at around 11:45 a.m. Police said a passerby saw the woman and called but did not feel threatened.” (https://kdvr.com/news/local/1-dead-in-downtown-shooting-involving-denver-police/) These two calls, one from a Park Ranger and another from a witness who did not view her as threatening, ultimately resulted in three fully armed, fully grown, police officers release multiple rounds into her body while she only had a knife to defend herself. According to Chief Thomas at the resultant press conference, they felt threatened by her after having deployed tasers. 

Given the embarrassing amount of money Denver pays our police department to be fully suited in head to toe gear and protective equipment… Given the fact that there were three fully weaponized and supposedly trained individuals versus one untrained, severely marginalized and disadvantaged womxn experiencing a mental health episode… This should have never ended as tragically and fatally as it did. Only in a world (and CITY!) of severe prejudice against the unhoused, transphobia, and racism does it become acceptable for such an event to take place without those at fault, the police, being immediately punished and fired for their irresponsibility (at best) and violent hatred (at worst).

There are plenty of scenarios in which we would have seen a different outcome. If…

• … witnesses worried about someone’s well-being could’ve called a trusted community partner to send trained mental health staff as opposed to killer enforcers with no de-escalation skills, who turned a reportedly unthreatening individual into an allegedly threatening one to justify their failure
• … nearby shelter staff had the tools and training needed to remain aware and vigilant of what goes on just outside their doors (which reminds us of the teenager Xavier, a recent Regis High School graduate, who froze to death just outside Urban Peak youth shelter last year (https://denverite.com/2023/02/24/a-19-year-old-died-in-a-tent-outside-the-homeless-youth-nonprofit-urban-peak-his-family-wants-answers-from-authorities/)
• …more queer-based, queer-led, houseless services, including sheltering, existed in Denver and could’ve offered her a safe place to be off the streets while receiving the mental health support needed to navigate her reality
• … we lived in a world where her beautiful intersectional identities weren’t turned into fatal comorbidities

Given the lack of information provided by Denver Police Department, HAND and other concerned street advocates and community members did our own outreach/investigation and was able to confirm her trans identity among witnesses, despite the stark absence of this information from any police or media report. Some individuals stated she was hispanic/latinx while others described her as black. We also learned from a fellow advocate that, despite the killing occurring at around 11:45am, her body was still laying there on the asphalt until around 4pm. Unfortunately, we’ve still been unable to determine her name or see a photo of her so as to be able to identify her. Still, we grieve for her as a community, sighing with relief every time we run into another trans femme bipoc friend on the streets who is still alive…For now…

To prevent a similar future for other beloved queer bipoc friends on the streets and deter officers from committing such atrocities in the future, we DEMAND immediate release of all footage from body cam, dash cam, and security cameras in the area to the public and the immediate suspension of the officers at fault without pay. We DEMAND answers to WHO she is so we can properly grieve and reach out to loved ones. We also demand that the police force be educated on cultural competency and mental health episode de-escalation – something they can learn from the many on-the-grounds, mutual aid, community partners who have been intimately involved with supporting those navigating identity- and houseless-related trauma for years. Additionally, the City of Denver and the Mayor’s administration should see this as a glaring example of the severe lack of quality mental health services and neglect of our most vulnerable communities, and find ways to fund additional support as opposed to more state-sanctioned violence.

#ProtectTransLives #TransEquality #BornThisWay #LoveWins #Pride2024 … #hypocrites #weprotectus