2017 Claims Life of 20th Transgender Person in Charlotte, NC

According to a report by PghLesbian.com, Derricka Banner, 26, is the 20th trans person murdered in 2017. LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD is calling on the media for increased and accurate coverage of the spate of murders of transgender people.

Banner was found fatally shot in a car in northwest Charlotte, North Carolina around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. A report in GoQNotes.com says she is the city's 64th homicide this year. A suspect in the case, Montavious Sanchez Berry, 18, has been arrested and charged with murder, armed robbery and shooting into an occupied vehicle.

According to PghLesbian.com, Banner was a trans woman of color from New York City living in Lenoir, North Carolina. She had previously worked for Walmart and was most recently employed with Tyson Foods. She was known to friends as "Ms. Bow Wow" and sometimes Derricka Lashae.

When Banner was first reported, she was misgendered by local media in Charlotte. Moreover, the preliminary obituary at the funeral home used her birth name and male pronouns. GLAAD is calling on the media to report on the brutal violence perpetrated against transgender people (particularly transgender people of color), and respect and use the lived identity, name, and pronoun of the victim.

Reporting on the spate of anti-transgender violence this year, GLAAD noted that 2016 overtook 2015 as the deadliest year on record for transgender people in the United States.�In 2016, 27�transgender people�were killed in the United States, and�nearly all of the victims were�transgender women of color.

These are the transgender people killed in 2017 -- all are transgender people of color, with the exception of Gwynevere River Song:

� Derricka Banner�was killed on September 12 in Charlotte, North Carolina. She�was 26�years old.
� Kashmire Redd�was killed on September 4�in Gates, New York. He�was 28�years old.
� Kiwi Herring�was killed on August 22�in St. Louis, Missouri. She�was 30 years old.
� Gwynevere River Song was killed on August 12 in Waxahachie, Texas. Gwynevere was 26�years old.
� TeeTee Dangerfield was killed on July 31�in Atlanta, Georgia. She was 32 years old.
� Ebony Morgan�was killed on July 2�in Lynchburg, Virgina. She was 28 years old.
� Ava Le'Ray Barrin�was killed on June 25 in Athens, Georgia. She was 17 years old.
� Josie Berrios (also known as�Kendra Adams and�Kimbella Ros�) was killed on June 13 in Ithaca, New York. She was 28 years old.
� Kenne McFadden�was found on April 9�in San Antonio, Texas, but due to misgendering by police and the media�she was not identified as a transgender woman until June 6.�She was 27�years old.
� Sherrell Faulkner�was attacked on November 30, 2016 and died on May 16, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was 46 years old.
� Brenda Bostick was attacked on April 25 and died on May 4 in New York City. She was 59 years old. (There have been conflicting reports about the name this person used and their gender. It now seems clear that this person was assigned male at birth and lived at least part of her life as Brenda. Therefore�we refer to her as Brenda and use female pronouns out of respect for that identity.)
� Chay Reed killed on April 21 in Miami, Florida. She was 28 years old.�
� Alphonza Watson killed on March 22 in Baltimore, Maryland. She was 38 years old.�
� Jaquarrius Holland killed on February 19 in Monroe, Louisiana (identified as trans on February 28). She was 18 years old.
� Ciara McElveen killed on February 27 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was 21�years old.�
� Chyna Gibson killed on February 25 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was 31 years old.�
� Keke Collier killed on February 21 in Englewood, Chicago. She was 24 years old.�
� JoJo Striker killed on February 8 in Toledo, Ohio. She was 23 years old.�
� Mesha Caldwell killed on January 4 in Canton, Mississippi. She was 41 years old.�
� Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow killed on January 1 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She was 28 years old.�