A young person has been arrested in reference to the fatal shooting of a Black transgender woman in Atlanta, police mentioned.
Officers answered to reviews of a woman affected by a gunshot wound at a buying groceries plaza on April 18. The sufferer used to be pronounced useless on the scene.
Police have no longer publicly recognized the sufferer, despite the fact that a relative showed to ABC News that it used to be Rasheeda Williams, 35, an aspiring musician whose tune used to be set to be featured at the Showtime drama “The Chi.”
Williams, aka Koko Da Doll, used to be additionally featured in “Kokomo City,” a documentary about Black transgender intercourse staff in Georgia and New York that received awards at this yr’s Sundance Film Festival.
Atlanta police announced Thursday they arrested 17-year-old Jermarcus Jernigan after “homicide detectives were able to establish probable cause” and safe warrants for homicide, annoyed attack and ownership of a firearm right through the fee of a prison.
In this Jan. 21, 2023, report picture, Koko Da Doll attends the 2023 Sundance Film Festival “Kokomo City” Premiere in Park City, Utah.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images, FILE
Jernigan grew to become himself in to police on Wednesday and used to be later transported to the Fulton County Jail and brought into their custody with out incident, the Atlanta Police Department mentioned. It is unclear if he has an lawyer who can talk on his behalf.
Williams’ sister additionally showed the arrest in the case to ABC News. She will probably be laid to relaxation on Monday.
Police didn’t free up any more main points at the shooting.
D. Smith, the movie’s director, mentioned in an Instagram post that Koko Da Doll used to be “the latest victim of violence against Black transgender women.”
The fatal shooting is one of 3 “violent crimes” in opposition to transgender girls that Atlanta police mentioned they’re these days investigating.
“While these individual incidents are unrelated, we are very aware of the epidemic-level violence black and brown transgender women face in America,” the Atlanta Police Department mentioned in a remark final week.
Per week prior to Koko Da Doll’s demise, every other Black transgender woman used to be killed at an rental advanced on April 11. Police have no longer publicly recognized the sufferer in this example, despite the fact that family and friends identified the victim to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB as 37-year-old hairstylist Ashley Burton.
Atlanta police also are investigating a shooting that happened the evening of Jan. 9 at an rental advanced. A transgender woman used to be transported to the sanatorium in essential situation.
Both of the ones incidents concerned a dispute, police mentioned.
ABC News’ Armando Garcia contributed to this document.
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