The violent death toll against the trans community in America has hit a new high, with the 50th murder of a trans person reported this year alone.
Nikai David, a 33-year-old Black trans woman, was killed in Oakland, California on Saturday morning around 4 a.m. Police responded to reports of gunshots and found David shot; she later died at the scene, according to local LGBTQ+ publication the Bay Area Reporter.
The Oakland LGBTQ Community Center mourned David’s loss, describing her as a “beloved community member” in a statement posted to Facebook. She was a close friend of Center employee Ashlee Banks, who told local FOX affiliate KTVU 2 that David was “really sweet” and a “happy, fun person.”
“I was really devastated when I found out, when I got the news,” Banks told KTVU 2, adding that there was “some type of physical altercation,” though she had “no idea why anyone would want to harm Nikai.”
Banks additionally said that David was “fun loving and considerate: someone who went out of her way to help others,” and that she was a model and aspiring social media influencer who wanted to open a clothing boutique eventually. David had celebrated her 33rd birthday just one week before she was killed.
In its statement, the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center said that everyone there was “pretty shaken up,” and that Banks was planning on working with “other members of the transgender community to honor her community sister.” Information on an eventual tribute will be posted on the Center’s Instagram page.
Tori Cooper, HRC Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative, said in a statement that the news of David’s death was “disheartening and alarming.”
“In the year that we’ve marked as the deadliest year on record for our community, we continue to see a frightening rate of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people,” Cooper said “We must all continue to demand that the violence cease. David was a young person with so much life ahead of her. For her future to have been violently taken away from her serves as a reminder that we remain with so much work ahead of us to ensure a safe and loving world for all.”
2021 remains the worst year on record for fatal violence against trans people in the U.S., a record that was previously set by 2020 with a total of 44 anti-trans murders reported. As in prior years, the vast majority of victims have been Black trans women.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for them.’s weekly newsletter here.
