Deshawnda Sanchez, a 21-year-old transgender woman known to many as "Tata," was gunned down on Wednesday in front of a house in South Los Angeles that police believe she had run to seeking help.
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"She was definitely at that door, pounding on that door seeking help," Los Angeles police Detective Christopher Barling told KTLA 5.
Someone inside the house opened the door after hearing gunshots, but Sanchez was already dead on the porch.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department and a neighbor's surveillance video, a car is shown pulling up around 4 a.m. Someone gets out and runs up to the house, and a figure can then be seen running back to the car and driving away.
"The footage, it was heartbreaking," the victim’s sister Diana Williams told the news station.
Detectives believe that Sanchez was running away from a robber when she was shot, but they also said they were not ruling out other scenarios. "Deshawnda is a transgender female," Barling said. "At this point we cannot say it's a hate crime, but we have not ruled out that as being a possibility."
"Honestly, I think it's a hate crime," the victim's twin sister, Deshanda Bradley, told the news station. "I think because they found he was a dude … they killed him."
Read more at KTLA 5.
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