Man arrested in killing of transgender woman Merci Mack
The 22-year-old was fatally shot in Dallas on the last day of Pride Month
Merci Mack Richey is an example of a grim statistic – the killing of transgender women around the country, which escalated during this year’s Pride Month. She is the 21st transgender woman killed this year, says the Human Rights Campaign. Most of those killed were Black.
Read More: Teen sentenced to life in prison for killing Black trans woman, 2 gay men
Richey was found with gunshot wounds in the parking lot of a Dallas apartment building in the early morning hours of June 30th. At the time, there were no suspects but a witness later came forward to identify the man police say killed Richey, Buzzfeed reports.
Angelo Walker, 20, was arrested by the North Texas Fugitive Task Force this week. An anonymous witness came forward and said they saw Walker chase Mack through the apartment complex lot and then stand over her and fire multiple shots, according to the arrest affidavit.
Walker’s motive may have been a video that Richey threatened to release of the two of them. On June 29, Richey said on Facebook she would post a video on her private Snapchat of her getting “nasty” with someone. The arrest affidavit says that the two had an argument about it.
Mack’s best friend Dolly Part posted a message to Walker on Facebook, saying that the two had known each other since they were children.
Richey’s family was supportive of her and shared a photo of her wake to show that she was loved and that they grieved her untimely death. There has also been a vigil and a balloon release in Richey’s honor and to further raise awareness of the importance of protecting transwomen from violence.
“Merci was loved,” Shannon Walker, the founder of Nu Trans Movement, an advocacy group for trans people in Dallas, told Buzzfeed. “Her family loved her. Her dad, her mom, loved her unconditionally, and that is rare to see in the Black community when it comes to young Black trans folk.”
Read More: BET pulled my ad calling to protect Black trans women. It’s not OK
Richey will be buried on Friday.
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