24-year-old Serenity Hollis is believed to be the 25th trans or gender-nonconforming death in the US this year.
Georgia has a pressing issue when it comes to anti-trans and gender-nonconforming hate crimes. At least six deaths have occurred in the US state since late last year.
These tragic deaths, including Hollis, have been Hollis, Sophie Vasquez, Bianca ‘Muffin’ Bankz, Bonaire ‘Bonnie’ Black, and Kimberly Patricia Cope.
Hollis’ death occurred on May 8 after the Orlando native was violently shot and killed at point-blank range in the back of the head.
Serenity’s mother, Robyn Osberry, commented on her daughter’s passing: “The person that’s responsible has no idea what they took from us…I absolutely want to see that justice is served.”
Tori Cooper, HRC Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative, issued a statement on Holli’s tragic death and called for an end to anti-trans violence.
“We’re less than halfway through the year and we’re already on track to break 2020’s devastating record for incidents of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people, Tori said in a statement.
“This outbreak of violence against transgender people, particularly Black trans women, must stop.”
Local US news outlets have both insensitively deadnamed and misgendered Hollis.
Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards told WALB he believed Hollis’ identity as a trans Black woman was likely to have been a motivating factor as to why she was a target of this horrendous crime.
“I cannot go into the specifics of everything about what happened, but it was pretty apparent that was probably a motivation for the death of [Ms.] Hollis,” the District Attorney said to WALB.
Hollis had been a target of hate crime several years before. In 2019, she was subject to 22 vicious knife wounds, according to Project Q Atlanta and LGBTQ Nation.
The Albany Police Department is actively seeking out information related to Hollis’ death. They have requested anyone with information to contact them at (229) 431-2100.
Related: Four more trans women have been tragically killed in the US
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