Tasiyah “Siyah” Woodland, an 18-year-old Black transgender woman, was found shot to death near a bar in Mechanicsville, Md., last week.
She is at least the eighth trans, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming person to die by violence in the U.S. this year.
Deputies from the St. Mary County Sheriff’s Office were called to the parking lot of the Big Dogs in Paradise bar in Mechanicsville due to a report that gunshots were fired, TV station WMAR reports. They found Woodland nearby, dead after being shot several times.
They do not think her gender identity was a factor in the crime, and they are calling it an isolated incident, according to the station. Some media and police reports misgendered and deadnamed her.
Woodland, who lived in Lexington Park, Md., had attended Great Mills High School and was studying at the College of Southern Maryland. She worked at a Hollister clothing store.
“She had multiple social media profiles, but – heartbreakingly – set up what she described as her ‘new & last page’ two days before her death,” Sue Kerr reports at Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents. “She had hopes, ambitions, dreams.
She celebrated her accomplishments and triumphs. All things she deserved, things ripped away from her by gun violence and the transphobia and misogynoir that permeates our society.”
Her family has started a GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral expenses. The page describes Woodland as “high spirited and protective of those she loved.”
After her mother’s death, Woodland “got the courage to start living in her truth and started her transition, which her family accepted with open arms,” the page notes.
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