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Florida authorities are searching for a suspect in the murder of a black transgender woman who was killed in what one police detective describes as a “violent and vicious” attack in her apartment earlier this month.
Alexus Braxton, 45, was found dead in her apartment at the Carmel at the California Condominiums in Miami around 10 p.m. on Feb. 4, according to Miami police.
Her mother and sister called 911 after arriving at Braxton’s apartment and not hearing from her, NBC Miami reported.
“Whoever did this, you need to come forward,” Braxton’s sister, Neki, told the news outlet. “You hurting our family. What would the reason be for you to do such a crime and do such an act on a beautiful person?”
“I was calling her all that day,” the victim’s mother, Tatiana Braxton, told NBC Miami.
With no response, her concern led her to grab her other daughter and go to the apartment, where the women’s suspicions led them to alert police, who encountered the crime scene.
In a video news release, Miami-Dade Police Det. Juan Segovia said: “The family has been left with no closure. They’re suffering tremendously because of the death and the manner in which our victim … was murdered.”
Cops say they have surveillance footage of a person they believe has information about Braxton’s murder.
The victim, who was also known as Kimmy Icon Braxton, was a hairstylist, according to her Facebook page, on which she stated in a recent post, “they can’t stop my shine.”
In a statement to the LGBTQ advocacy organization Human Rights Campaign, her mother referenced the 1999 death of a friend and said: “Twenty two years later and Black Trans Women’s lives are still not VALUED. In 1999, I witnessed my best friend get murdered in the streets of Miami. Sadly, since her murder, I’ve lost many more friends due to senseless violence. Here we are in 2021, it’s my daughter Kimmy. There’s one thing that remains the same: law enforcement, state officials and local politicians have no sense of urgency to address this growing epidemic. Please help us!”
The victim’s death is “at least” the sixth violent death of a transgender person in 2021, according to the HRC, after 44 recorded deaths of transgender and gender non-conforming people in 2020 — more than in any year since HRC began tracking such violence in 2013.
The exact tally is unknown “because too often these deaths go unreported — or misreported,” according to the organization. “So far this year, five of the six known deaths have been Black transgender women.”
Police offered reward money up to $5,000 for tips leading to an arrest, and asked anyone with information to call 305-471-TIPS (8477) or submit online at CrimeStoppers.
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