PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Authorities are investigating the shooting death of a transgender Black woman found dead inside her apartment in Germantown last week.
Shahere “Diamond" Jackson-McDonald was found facedown, shot several times inside her home on Manheim Street near Morris Street just after midnight on Thanksgiving morning. Investigators said that there was no obvious evidence of forced entry, and the door to the apartment was left open.
While speaking at the William Way LGBT Center on Thursday, Mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs Executive Director Celena Morrison shared a message from the 27-year-old victim’s mother to the killer.
“I just want the world to know that Diamond was my rock, my shoulder, my child whom I love with every inch of me and what I have left to give. Whoever you are, you took away my gem, my Diamond - someone who was all about her family and friends,” she said.
“You tore many hearts, and we will not rest until we get justice. I will not sleep until you are caught. You may not have to answer to me now, but you will have to answer to God. You reap what you sew.”
Related
35 transgender or gender-nonconforming people have been killed in violent acts in the U.S. this year, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Jackson-McDonald and three other victims came from the Delaware Valley, according to the Human Rights Campaign:
- Matthew Angelo Spampinato, 21 from New Castle, Delaware, killed in February
- Miia Love Parker, 25 from Chester, killed in April
- Maddie Hofmann, 47 from Malvern, killed in May
HRC said that since 2013, people of color have been more than 85% of the victims of violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people.
Law enforcement is urging anyone with information about her death to call Philadelphia police at 215-686-8477 (TIPS).