CRIME
Man Suffers Anti-LGBTQ Attack on J Train
The victim sustained a bruised lip as a result of the attack
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
A man allegedly assaulted
and hurled anti-LGBTQ
slurs at a man on
the subway in Brooklyn
late last month, according to the
NYPD.
A 23-year-old man was traveling
on a northbound J train on August
26 when he said he was accosted by
an individual spewing homophobic
rhetoric. Moments later, the man
repeatedly punched the victim in
the head, according to the NYPD,
and the victim sustained a bruised
lip but refused medical attention.
Police said the suspect remained
on the train but fl ed the scene.
The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task
Force is investigating the incident,
and no arrests have been made.
Surveillance footage shows the
suspect wearing a Black baseball
cap, a graphic T-shirt with cargo
An individual allegedly hurled anti-LGBTQ slurs and assaulted a man on a northbound “J” train on
August 26.
pants while holding an Arizona
can, and a Black bookbag.
This incident comes amid a wave
of anti-LGBTQ attacks on New York
GOOGLE MAPS
City subways in recent months.
A 29-year-old man was stabbed
in the chest and torso in an anti-
LGBTQ attack on a subway platform
at Penn Station on June 28.
On June 23, a trans woman was
stabbed by a man who wielded a
screwdriver in a Manhattan subway
station, while a trans man
who was with his wife got slashed
on the subway on June 4.
Last month, the NYPD said they
were searching for two unknown
suspects who assaulted and hurled
anti-LGBTQ slurs at three men in
Brooklyn. In July, a Black trans
femme non-binary individual and
multiple LGBTQ people were injured
in a violent rampage allegedly
targeting queer people at a
string of Brooklyn bars.
On the national level, hate crimes
targeting LGBTQ individuals have
continued. According to new data
from the FBI, out of approximately
7,554 single-incident hate crime offenses
logged in the US, at least 20.5
percent of victims were targeted
based on their sexual orientation.
Transgender Woman Fatally Shot in Louisiana
Pooh Johnson, killed on August 23, was just 25 years old
BY MATT TRACY
A 25-year-old Black transgender
woman was fatally
shot in Shreveport,
Louisiana on August
23, marking the latest victim of gun
violence in a state where several
LGBTQ people have been shot and
killed dating back to last year.
Local police said “Pooh” Johnson,
who also went by Titanizer
Mua on social media pages, was
found dead with multiple gunshot
wounds inside a vehicle shortly after
5:30 a.m. at the 300 Block of
West 74th Street in Shreveport,
which is located in the northwestern
part of Louisiana. Results of
an autopsy are forthcoming.
Authorities pledged to determine
whether Johnson’s identity played
a role in the fatal shooting, but police
also appeared to misgender the
victim. Shreveport Police did not
Pooh Johnson suffered multiple gunshot wounds in a fatal shooting on August 23.
respond to Gay City News’ request
for further details in the case.
Johnson worked as a makeup
artist, according to Facebook and
FACEBOOK
Instagram pages. Members of
Johnson’s family did not immediately
respond to Gay City News’ request
for comment.
Gun violence has taken a toll on
the LGBTQ community in Louisiana
in recent years. Last October, Brooklyn
DeShauna, a 20-year-old Black
transgender woman, was shot and
killed at the 7200 Block of Bernstein
Avenue in Shreveport — just blocks
away from where Johnson’s body
was found. McKinsley LaKeith Lincoln,
an out gay Black man, was shot
and killed in May of last year in Alexandria,
Louisiana, which is roughly
two hours south of Shreveport.
In another case out of Louisiana
earlier this year, a Black trans
woman named Fifty Bandz was
shot to death in Baton Rouge.
Johnson became the 35th
known transgender or gender
non-conforming person to suffer a
violent death in the United States
this year, according to the Human
Rights Campaign, though there
are likely more individuals who
have not been counted.
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