Dominique Lucious, a 26-year-old Black trans woman, was shot and killed on April 8 in Springfield, Missouri, making her at least the 13th victim of fatal anti-trans violence in 2021, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Lucious also marks the 7th Black trans woman killed in just 4 months.
According to a police statement obtained by local news outlet Ozarks First, law enforcement officers were dispatched to the site of the shooting shortly before 7 a.m. last Thursday after a 911 caller reported a shooting. Lucious was subsequently found dead at the scene with gunshot wounds.
A witness, who was identified only as S.D., reported that Lucious had stayed overnight at his apartment and that the victim “had asked to use the bathroom to freshen up because Lucious was expecting someone to stop by the apartment.” S.D. went back to sleep but later heard gunshots and witnessed the shooter leaving, taking pictures of his car as he drove away.
The police took a suspect, Charles Nelson, into custody the same evening. He has been charged with second-degree murder and is being held in Sprinfield’s Greene County Jail without bond, as the Associated Press reports.
According to police, Nelson allegedly met Lucious on a dating site and had discussed meeting up with her prior to her murder.
The police report also acknowledges that Lucious may have engaged in sex work, adding an additional layer of vulnerability to her murder. A report from the National Center for Trans Equality finds that trans women of color — especially Black trans women — are much more likely to engage in sex work due to economic precarity. The continued criminalization of sex work only serves to force these indigent women even further to the margins.
Local LGBTQ+ organizations mourned Lucious’ death, acknowledging the systemic violence that led to her killing.
“Our hearts are broken for Dominique, whose bright beautiful light was extinguished far too soon, and for her family facing this horrific tragedy,” said Missouri LGBTQ+ advocacy organization PROMO in a statement posted to Facebook. The organization also noted that the stigma attached to trans people “fuels a culture of fear” and that “transphobia, biphobia, and homophobia sit at the intersection of racism and misogyny, and fosters violence.”
“If we are not working to end the societal violence that ended Dominique’s life, we are part of the problem,” PROMO added.
Other organizations, such as Springfield LGBTQ+ organization the GLO Center, noted that Lucious’s death is unfortunately far from an anomaly, as the statistics of fatal violence are increasingly weighted against Black trans women.
