Florida's Transgender Community Shaken by Unsolved Murders. Fears of Serial Killer Arise.
The Jacksonville, Florida Transgender community is on high alert after a third woman is found shot to death.
Earlier this year two transgender women, Antash'a English (left) and Celine Walker (right), were shot and killed. In February Walker, 38, was found shot to death in her hotel room. In June English, 36, was shot in the stomach while walking down the street and later died at an area hospital. Both murders have yet to be solved.
This past Sunday, a third transgender woman, Cathalina Christina James, 24, was found dead in her hotel room just a short distance from the hotel where Walker was found. The LGBT community is in an "uproar" over the deaths of these women especially since June is Pride Month and the Florida night life is swelling with people who come to Jacksonville to celebrate together.
Via Action News Jax:
"The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says a black male, in his 20s, who appeared to identify as a woman--was found dead at the Quality Inn on Dix Ellis Trail just after 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
Paige Mahogany Parks, a local advocate for the LGBTQ community says she was devastated when she found out about it.
"I was very upset. My friend called me this morning and she asked me about the transgender woman that was killed at the hotel…and I was like no, not again,” said Parks.
Action News Jax told you earlier this month about Antash'a English, a trans-woman who was found dead on Ella Street.
In February, Celine Walker was shot and killed in a hotel near the St. Johns Town Center.
Parks told me she worries someone could be targeting all of the transgender women in the Jacksonville area.
“It's like Jacksonville is becoming a hub for transgenders being murdered here and it doesn't make any sense,” said Parks."
JSO investigators were seen at a room, with a balcony, on the third floor taking pictures and removing what appeared to be a body.
Parks told Action News Jax she plans to lay low, because she said she wants to live to see another day.
“There's a target on every transgender woman's back here. We have to watch our back, we have to be careful where we go. You know, it's crazy that we have to live in solitude, just to stay alive.”
JSO says they don’t know much about the suspect, except that he or she was driving a beige vehicle.
Anyone with information is urged to call crime stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.
Let's hope whoever is doing this is caught QUICKLY!