A transgender woman identified as Yahira Nesby, 33, was found dead from gunshot wounds on December 19, in Brownsville, according to police.
Police arrived at 178 Rockaway Parkway in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn at 4:20pm and found Nesby with gunshot wounds to her chest and leg. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police also arrested a 39-year-old man they found outside the back of the building who had broken his foot after jumping from the second story of the building. Police are still trying to determine a motive while the suspect is hospitalized.
According to The Daily News, police are saying the victim was fatally shot by her boyfriend. But it is not yet clear whether a boyfriend killed Nesby or whether it is the suspect police have in custody.
Nesby's Facebook page stated that she lived in the Bronx and went to Vance High School in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The New York City Anti-Violence Project contacted Nesby's friends to confirm her identity. Nesby was from Charlotte, North Carolina and participated in New York's ballroom scene as a member of the House of Chanel. She was also a religious woman who posted "videos and powerful words of faith" on her social media accounts.
Trans women of color have been targets of violence nationwide and the Human Rights Campaign has tallied 24 trans or gender non-binary people who have suffered violent deaths this year.
