A map showing the general corridor of the Atlanta BeltLine’s Northwest Trail, with the square areas marking connection points with existing parts of the BeltLine. (Atlanta Beltline Inc.)
Friends from the Atlanta transgender community tearfully embrace at a memorial service for Sophie Vasquez, 36, a Latina transgender woman who was shot dead at her apartment on May 4.
Vsquez was shot multiple times, police said. Brookhaven police found five shell casings and three bullets at the scene. Police have released little information about the crime, saying they donÕt have a suspect and havenÕt determined a motive. But local activists accused them of downplaying the incident because of VsquezÕs gender identity.
"At this time in the investigation, her murder does not appear to have any connection to being transgender," a spokesperson for Brookhaven Police said in a release. If the evidence supports additional charges related to hate-crime bias they will be levied at the appropriate time, police said.
Her murder brings the national count of violent deaths for transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming individuals to 24, making 2021 the deadliest year so far in the past decade for that population, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Vehicles line up on Peachtree Road in Brookhaven on the afternoon of May 12 for fuel at a Chevron station amid panic-buying sparked by a pipeline shutdown. (Joshua Crowder)
Drivin N Cryin takes the stage. The lineup features, from left, guitarist Laur Joamets, drummer Dave V. Johnson, lead singer and guitarist Kevn Kinney, and bassist Tim Nielsen. (Phil Mosier)
