Ja'Leyah Jamar has become the 19th trans woman reported murdered in 2019. Shots were reported on Friday, Sept. 13th 2019 on Leavenworth Rd. near 60th Street around 2:30 p.m. in Kansas City, Kansas. She left behind grief-stricken family members including her 5-year-old daughter Ja'Mya.
Members of the community came together to mourn on Monday, including Ja'Leyah-Jamar's mother, Jennifer Gibbson. Jennifer called for an end of the violence saying, "I'll never be the same. I'll never be the same...Once that trigger is pulled, it's too late. You can't go back. Put the guns down."
During Ja'Leyah's initial death, the Kentucky City Police misgendered her as a 20-something man and gave her an unrelated male name. Friends and family members spoke out about the misgendering and told the public she was Ja'Leyla.
According to Advocate.com, a cousin named Andrea Sanders, posted on Facebook - "Ja’leyah-Jamar didn’t ask for this life... No one can control WHO they love God made us to live and love and to grow... It’s not our fault as a Transgender woman or a homosexual man to want to live a normal life...wanting to be in love have a family build your own legacy and because a Man could not accept who he was as himself and individual he felt the need to take my cousin’s life.”
The suspect believed to have taken Ja'Leyah's life is one to have been in a previous relationship with her. Photos of the suspects face and car plates have been released.
This news comes in the wake of a previous trans death just across the border where another trans woman #BrooklynLindsey was killed in Kansas City, MO in June. Anyone with information about the shooting of Ja'Leyah-Jamar is asked to call the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-8477.
If you or someone you know is experiencing violence, you can reach out to the Anti-Violence Project’s free bilingual (English/Spanish) national hotline at (212) 714-1141 or report online for support.