Tyianna “Davarea” Alexander, a 28-year-old black trans woman, and Samuel Edmund Damián Valentín, a trans man living in Puerto Rico, are the first American trans people to have been killed in acts of violence this year.
According to the Chicago-Sun Times, Alexander was shot dead last week in the Gresham neighbourhood on Chicago’s south side.
Valentín was also a victim of gun violence, was found dead on a highway in Trujillo Alto with multiple wounds. Alexander’s death is being treated as a homicide, but it is unclear how police are investigating the murder of Valentín.Like many trans victims of violence, Valentín was misgendered in initial police reports. Pedro Julio Serrano of local LGBTQ+ advocacy group, Puerto Rico Para Tod@s, told a.