Pastor arrested in connection with shooting death of transgender woman
A Michigan pastor has been arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a transgender woman, Fox 2 Detroit reports.
Kelly Stough was found dead on a Detroit street on Friday and a pastor, Albert Weathers, is charged with the crime, according to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office.
Weathers has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held on $1 million bond, the outlet reports.
—DC centenarian who danced with the Obama’s, balls with Harlem Globetrotters—
Jessica Williams Stough, the victim’s mother, encouraged her to live her best life.
“You keep fighting, keep pushing and live your life […] Don’t let the world dictate how you should live,” she said.
“He [Kelly] was always a happy kid but bullied because of his tendencies.”
The prosecutor’s office says Stough was a victim of a hate crime because of her transgender status and the evidence, they believe, will support it. On Friday morning, Stough was found near McNichols Street at Brush Park, a neighborhood in Midtown Detroit, according to reports.
Dana Nessel, Michigan’s Attorney General-elect, said the murder is a cautionary tale of how members of the LGBT are often targeted and discriminated against in Detriot.
“This case reflects the excessive brutality that members of Detroit’s transgender community constantly face,” Nessel, who also chairs Fair Michigan, an organization committed to protecting gay, lesbian and transgender people, was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. “We thank the Detroit Police Department for their efforts to investigate the facts of this tragic crime.”
“She was loved,” said Williams-Stough said about her 36-year-old daughter.
“She had a lot of people who loved her. She just wasn’t nobody.”
—New York mother who had baby ripped from her arms reunited with son in emotional video—
According to reports, Weathers was married with children and rented space at a local church with a small congregation.
Weathers, who works at Great Lakes Water Authority, fled the scene, but called police an hour later from his job and reported that someone tried to rob him and he shot them in return.
A spokesperson for the Great Lakes Water Authority told 7 Action News on Tuesday that “Albert Weathers is no longer employed at GLWA. Mr. Weathers was off-duty at the time of the alleged incident, and his conduct was unrelated to his employment with GLWA.”
Weathers is expected back in court later this month.
A GoFundMe page has been launched for Stough to help with funeral expenses.
