Tatiana Labelle, Transgender Woman, Found Dead in Garbage Can—Police
Police Department confirmed to Newsweek.Her family identified her as Tatiana Labelle, WLS-TV reported."It is heartbreaking for someone to beat her to death and throw her in the trash like she was garbage," her sister, Shameika Thomas, told the station. "I loved my sister whether she was transgender or not, and I would like for me and my family to have justice."Thomas has been contacted for additional comment.Labelle was last seen alive on Chicago's South Side on March 12, according to the Windy City Times.A neighbor who didn't want to be identified told WLS-TV that her body was found "after the garbage people pulled it up and the garbage flipped over, and everything fell out."The Cook County medical examiner performed an autopsy and determined Labelle's death was caused by "multiple injuries due to assault," and ruled it a homicide, a spokesperson told Newsweek.The Chicago police spokeswoman told Newsweek that no arrests have yet been made in connection with the killing. "No one is in custody at this time.
Detectives are still investigating," she said.Labelle is at least the seventh transgender person known to have been killed in 2022, according to the Human Rights Campaign."While the details of these cases differ, it is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color—particularly Black transgender women—and that the intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and unchecked access to guns conspire to deprive them of employment, housing, healthcare and other necessities," the campaign wrote in a blog post.Last year was the deadliest year on record for transgender or gender non-conforming people, with at least 57 fatally shot or killed by other violent means across the.
