Friends and community members in Reading, Pennsylvania gathered on Sunday to honor 29-year-old Roxanne Moore, a Black transgender woman who was shot by police officers last week. They joined together to show support for Moore, who remains in the hospital with injuries as a result of the altercation.
During the event, supporters wore Black Trans Lives Matter buttons and T-shirts embroidered with the rainbow-colored hashtag #RoxyStrong.
Members of Moore’s family spoke during the event to express their love for her and their desire to see justice served. “I just want my sister to know I love her,” her brother reportedly said, according to the local newspaper Reading Eagle. “That’s all.”
But despite that show of support and solidarity, the three law enforcement officials involved in her shooting will soon be able to return to work — without receiving any form of punishment. The announcement was made on Thursday after Berks County District Attorney John Adams claimed the shooting was justified, as Harrisburg CBS affiliate WHP-TV previously reported.
The individuals, whose names have not been released to press, were placed on administrative leave following the incident. A date for their return has not been set.
The shooting took place on the morning of September 13 after officers responded to an incident involving Moore, who was in possession of a gun at the time. After being asked to drop the weapon, officers fired 16 shots, injuring her. Authorities later found that the gun Moore was wielding — although fully loaded — was inoperable due to a safety mechanism that wouldn’t allow it to be fired.
Prior to the incident, Moore had been experiencing mental distress following an argument in her apartment. She grabbed a firearm and fled, injuring someone in the process.
Moore’s family and friends criticized the Reading Police Department’s handling of the incident, asking why law enforcement officials didn’t employ deescalation tactics or crisis intervention. They claimed someone who was experiencing visible trauma should have been met with “patience and compassion” rather than “not violence, felony charges, and hospitalization,” as the Reading Eagle reported.
Moore’s grandmother added that she just wanted her to get the help she needs, saying that her mental health issues “should have been recognized long ago.”
According to the Philadelphia CBS affiliate KYW-TV, the district attorney admitted that Moore’s mental health issues were known to police prior to the standoff, as well as her alleged struggles with substance abuse. Whether she was under the influence at the time of the shooting remains unclear.
Among those who have spoken out against the Reading Police Department is Jane Palmer, executive director of the progressive group Berks Stands Up.
“We see in their treatment centuries of racism and homophobia, and we have had enough,” she said at Sunday’s rally. “Do Black people ever get the benefit of the doubt in a situation involving the police? Add trans or gender-nonconforming on top of that, and you’re in real trouble.”
“We’re here today for Roxanne, who is, at this very moment, still in the hospital in critical condition because of who she is: a Black trans woman,” Palmer continued, in comments cited by local press. “Any one of those things, being Black, being trans, being a woman, would make her vulnerable, but she lives at the intersection of all three.”
Reading Police Chief Richard Tornielli, however, held that the officers acted appropriately and said they will return to work once they’ve “completed the appropriate evaluations.”
“Based on the evidence that we saw initially when we responded to the incident, and then what was turned over to the district attorney’s office, we felt very confident that he would make that ruling that the shooting was justified,” Tornielli said, according to the outlet WHP-TV.
Surveillance images from the incident were released to the public, but bodycam footage has been withheld due to an ongoing investigation.
Moore’s shooting comes four months after the death of Tony McDade, a Black trans man who was fatally shot by the Tallahassee Police Department. The circumstances around McDade’s death are somewhat unclear, and the city of Tallahassee will not reveal the identity of the officer involved in the shooting due to efforts by the Police Benevolent Association.
The police union claims the officer is protected under Marsy’s Law, a constitutional amendment passed in 2018 that allows crime victims to keep their names confidential.
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