Angel Haynes has become the 34th known transgender person to be killed in 2020, according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

The 25-year-old vibrant cosmetologist was shot in the head at a Motel 6 hotel room outside Memphis in Whitehaven, Tenn., on Oct. 25., the site reported. 

A tweet from the Memphis Police Department indicated that officers responded to a call at 2:19 a.m. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered a female victim.

Haynes, who was nicknamed “Angel Unique,” reportedly contacted friend Takia Weddle to let her know she was staying in the city located a little more than 20 minutes away from the Arkansas border. The distraught comrade told Out Magazine that Haynes promised that she would call her once she arrived safely. That call would never come. 

“I still can’t believe it really because that was the only person I was with every single day,” Weddle said. “I talked to my best friend more than I talked to my boyfriend.”

“Everybody that knew Angel knew that she was very funny,” Weddle remembered. “Very nice to everybody she met.”

WREG Channel 3 reported that witnesses, who wished to remain off-camera, described the chaotic scene after Haynes’ body was discovered.

One male guest who stayed at the Motel 6 described seeing the woman’s lifeless body before it was removed from the scene, said the experience is something he will not soon forget.

According to Memphis ABC-affiliate Local 24, family and friends held a candlelight vigil for Haynes on Oct. 30.

Weddle told the local news channel that she believed her friend was killed because she was a transgender woman. 

“Just because she was the way she was. And especially in that side of Memphis, it was in Whitehaven; they really don’t like people like that over there really,” the grieving woman said.  

Weddle remembered her friend for her bravery, recounting that Haynes chose to transition to a woman after high school. The slain woman had recently started her physical transition.

“She just got her breast done like a couple of weeks ago, so she wasn’t even healed yet or nothing,” Weddle told Local 24 News.  

A GoFundMe page organized by LeAnne Jones was created to help Angel’s family with funeral expenses. The fundraiser seeks $5,000 because Haynes didn’t have life insurance. In a moving post, Jones also asked for prayers for the 25 year old’s family. 

“We need prayers, especially for her mom and for her grandmother. Also, with it being so close to the holidays, help for burial expenses would be a blessing as she did not have life insurance,” Jones wrote.

The HRC also issued a statement regarding Haynes’s tragic death. 

“We have lost yet another Black trans woman to deadly violence in this country,” said Tori Cooper, HRC Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative. “Despite the fact that we are living through the coronavirus pandemic, transgender and gender non-conforming people are also still facing an epidemic of violence."

"We are also living in an extremely vitriolic period, where hate, prejudice, racism and transphobia are fueled by many in power. This is contributing to a rise in animosity and an increase in fatal violence against trans and gender non-conforming people,” the statement added. “We need our allies to take action to support us today and every day. As we mourn Angel’s loss along with her friends and family, we will continue working for an end to this senseless violence.”

At this time, Memphis police have not identified any suspects. If anyone has information regarding Haynes’s murder, please contact Crime Stoppers at (901) 528-CASH.

Angel HaynesMemphis, TNtransgender-womanViolence