Transgender Woman Shot to Death in Mississippi
Dominique Jackson, 30, was found in a fi eld; motive unknown for now
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
A Black transgender
woman from Mississippi
was shot to death
late last month, police
said.
Dominique Jackson, 30, sustained
a gunshot wound to the
neck on January 25 at Rose Street
and Grand Avenue, the Jackson
Police Department told Gay City
News.
Jackson was driving her vehicle
that evening when she wound up
hitting a utility pole, according
to the local ABC affi liate in Jackson.
It remains unclear who shot
the victim and when she was shot.
After the shooting, Jackson exited
her vehicle and was later found lying
dead in a fi eld, according to authorities.
Jackson Police Department
spokesperson Sam Brown told
Gay City News the police had not
determined her cause of death nor
a motive for the incident. A police
spokesperson said there is no
evidence suggesting that Jackson
was targeted because of her gender
identity.
“We don’t have any evidence or
information that would suggest
it would have been a hate crime,”
Brown said.
In a phone call with Gay City
News, Brown repeatedly misgendered
Jackson. When Gay City
News told authorities that Jackson
was a transgender woman, Brown
stressed that the department uses
the gender marker and name refl
ected on the victim’s identifi cation.
“That’s what determines the
information that we give,” Brown
said. “Whatever is on that person’s
legal document as a name, which
was legal name. That’s the name
we have legally, so that’s what we
use.”
Police are still investigating the
incident and have not found any
suspects in connection to the case.
Like many transgender victims,
Jackson was misgendered by police
and in local media reports,
which may have delayed advocates
and family members from correctly
identifying the victim. Days after
the victim’s death, one of her relatives
urged the public to help fi nd
her.
“Dominique Jackson is missing,”
Madison King, one of the victim’s
loved ones, wrote in a social media
post on January 27. “We haven’t
seen or talked to her in 3 days. She
dropped a dude off, and she hasn’t
been home since.”
On social media, advocates remembered
Jackson as an organizer
and co-founder at BreakOut,
which is an LGBTQ youth organization
based in New Orleans,
Louisiana. Additionally, according
to Jackson’s Facebook profi le, the
late advocate was the Mother of the
Hause of Redd and the founder of
The Ladi Redd Inc.
After more than three dozen
transgender Americans were
killed last year, the fi rst month of
the year proved to be a deadly one.
Davarea “Tyianna” Alexander was
shot and killed in Chicago on January
6, Samuel Edmund Damián
Valentín died after getting shot in
Puerto Rico on January 9, and
Natasha Keianna was found dead
in an SUV in Detroit on January
12.
In a written statement, Tori Cooper,
HRC’s director of community
engagement for the Transgender
Justice Initiative, underscored the
role Jackson played in the community
and further denounced
the ongoing violence targeting
trangender individuals across the
United States.
“Dominique was an important
and valued member of her community,
where she will be greatly
missed,” Cooper said. “In just one
month, we have already recorded
multiple deaths of transgender
and gender non-conforming people
in the U.S. This is unacceptable.”
“We need everyone in the LGBTQ
community and our allies
to speak out against this violence
and take action to stop it. We will
continue fi ghting for justice for all
trans and gender non-conforming
people,” Cooper added.
CRIME
FACEBOOK/DOMINIQUE JACKSON
A Black trans woman was shot to death on January 25.
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