Denali Berries Stuckey is the 12th transgender women to be killed in the U.S. this year. 

According to ABC News, the 29-year-old woman was found shot to death on the side of a road in North Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday morning. While no motive has been determined, the coroner’s office has ruled Stuckey’s death a homicide. 

“Somebody that was deeply loved by so many was taken from us,” said Ron’Rico Judon, a friend of Stuckey. “She was very loving. She always smiled, always laughed. Had this beautiful smile. Loved to dance.” 

Stuckey, who was a cosmetologist and a home child care manager, was killed six years before the average life expectancy of trans women of color. 

Local transgender activist and community organizer Vanity Reid Deterville paid respects to Stuckey even though she didn’t know her personally. 

“I recognize how hard it is just to live your truth in a very southern region of the United States,” Deterville shared. “She was a woman who walked a very difficult life in a very southern state.”

On Monday, friends, family and fellow community members held a candlelight vigil in Stuckey’s memory outside of a local LGBTQ center called the Equality Hub, reports Vice News. 

The Human Rights Campaign reports that, with Stuckey’s killing, the reported death toll for trans women in America has risen to nearly 140 since 2013. Many of these crimes go unsolved, and more than 65% of victims are Black.

Stuckey is the third trans woman killed in South Carolina since 2018 and the 12th killed this year in the U.S.

Fatal violence haunts Black trans women exponentially. 

In April, 23-year-old Muhlaysia Booker was brutally beaten by a group of men in broad daylight in southern Dallas. Police said witnesses took her to a nearby hospital where it was determined that she suffered facial fractures. The following month, she was found shot and killed.  

Similarly, in the late hours of June 12, Zoe Spears was found shot and killed on a sidewalk in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Last week, Gerardo Thomas was arrested for Spears’ murder after surveillance video captured the killing and his van.

He faces numerous charges including first-degree murder. 

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