Family members of Aerrion Burnett held a large vigil and ballon release in Kansas City, Missouri to commemorate the life of their deceased loved one.

Police found Burnett, a Black trans woman, dead on the side of the road with a gunshot wound on September 19, according to KCTV.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, there have been at least 26 reported violent deaths of a transgender or gender non-conforming person this year in the U.S., making Burnett the 27th.

This is the highest figure the Human Rights Campaign has ever recorded, with 2019's total coming to 25 transgender or gender non-conforming deaths.

The National Center for Transgender Equality said in August the figure was even higher at 28 deaths this year. According to data collected by the organization, 23 of the victims were transgender women, four were transgender men and one was non-binary. 

Tori Cooper, Human Rights Campaign Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative, said in a statement that Black transgender women are being killed at horrifying rates in this country. 

“HRC has already seen as many violent deaths of trans and gender non-conforming people this year as we tracked all of last year. This level of violence is staggering, and it cannot continue," Cooper said.

"We need everyone — from community organizers to those in the highest levels of our government — to take action to end this epidemic of violence. I and everyone in the trans community are mourning Aerrion’s death. As we remember her, we continue to call for justice for all trans and gender non-conforming people,” Cooper added. 

Vigil attendees outwardly mourned the loss of Burnett, who they say was so important to her community. 

“Aerrion was a Barbie. She was a goddess. Can you hear me? Fun! When I say goddess, she was everything. If you wanted to have a good day, you need to smile, Aerrion was the person you wanted by your side,” one of her friends, Korea Kelly, told the news outlet.

She added that Burnett was not the only Black trans woman killed in the city in recent years.

“When is the senseless violence to Black trans women in Kansas City going to stop,” Kelly asked. 

Kelly and Burnett had a mutual friend, Dee Dee Pearson, who was killed in 2011 because a man she was sleeping with was angry when he found out she was trans. 

“As a friend, and both of those [women] are my friends who both got killed the same way, and being a black trans woman myself, that hurts like hell. It’s a pain that I can’t fathom. It’s a pain that I don’t know how to fathom or to tell anyone how I’m feeling,” Kelly said to KCTV.

Burnett's family members told KCTV they were horrified to find out about her death, especially considering they were in the middle of planning a party for her 38th birthday on September 22.

“Enough is enough. It’s about time to stop the crime and stop the murders. Stop taking our lives. Lives matter. You can’t get them back, and it hurts so many people,” one of Burnett’s cousins said.

The family plans to have a funeral for her on October 3. 

“Aerrion was a beautiful soul. I don’t care what time of the day, evening, what day it was, Aerrion stayed the same, kept the same attitude. She was someone that you would have loved to have in your life,” her sister, Tamara Griffin, told Fox4.

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