A 21-year-old transgender woman was shot dead on the front porch of a Los Angeles home as she pounded on the door for help from her killer in what police say may have been an early morning robbery.
Deshawnda “Tata” Sanchez was discovered by the homeowner near the corner of South Wilton Place and West 62nd St. around 4 a.m. Wednesday after she was shot several times. A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured the incident on film, and the LAPD said the search is on for the killer, KTLA-TV reported.
“She was definitely at that door, pounding on that door seeking help,” LAPD Detective Christopher Barling told the TV station.
Footage shows a car race up to the home in question, someone run out and then run back to the vehicle and peel out in reverse. Cops believe that person is the one who fired the fatal shots.
Sanchez didn’t live in the south Los Angeles neighborhood where she was killed, devastated family members told KTLA, and they have no idea why she may have been in the area.
While the video shows Sanchez fleeing her attacker in what cops initially deemed a robbery, “at this point we cannot say it’s a hate crime but we have not ruled out that as being a possibility,” Darling told the TV station.
Sanchez is at least the third transgender woman killed in Southern California since June, according to a tally by the Los Angeles Times.
Transgender activist Zoraida “Ale” Reyes, 28, was found dead June 12 in an Anaheim Dairy Queen, while 47-year-old Aniya Knee Parker was shot dead Oct. 2 in East Hollywood during an early morning struggle over her purse, according to the paper.
