Dallas police officers announced on Wednesday that they arrested and charged Kendrell Lavar Lyles with the murder of Muhlaysia Booker and two other people. They added that he is a prime suspect in the recent death of another Black trans woman in the Dallas area.

Booker's death has prompted outcry across the nation as many ask why so many Black transgender women have been attacked or killed in recent years. Booker was attacked and injured by a mob one month before her death and became a vocal advocate for Black trans women.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, 26 trans people were killed in the U.S. last year. Unfortunately, the majority of those killed were Black women. All five of the trans women killed in the U.S. this year have been Black. However, the number may be higher because police departments are not required to report this kind of information.

Lyles, 34, was arrested in connection with two other killings when police realized he may have been tied to the death of Booker.

"During the course of investigating these two cases, detectives recognized that Arrestee Lyles drove the same type car that is believed to have picked up Muhlaysia Booker on May 18, 2019. Cell phone analysis indicated that suspect Lyles frequented the Spring and Lagow area," the Dallas Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

"It further put him around Spring and Lagow at the time Muhlaysia was picked up on May 18^thand later at the scene of her murder. Muhlaysia Booker was last seen getting into a light colored Lincoln LS, which is the same type of car driven by Suspect Lyles," they added.

Lyles was arrested on June 5 after he was implicated in the death of a woman on May 22.

When police analyzed his phone records, they realized he was in the same area as Booker before her death. Furthermore, he was also in the same area as a Black woman named Chynal Lindsey shortly before she was found dead floating in Dallas' White Rock Lake on June 1.

He is now a person of interest in Lindsey's case as the Dallas Police Department tries to get a handle on the spate of brutal deaths of Black trans women in the city.

Three Black trans women have been killed in Dallas over the last 18 months. In October, police found Brittany White shot to death in a car.

Another transgender woman was brutally attacked in April near the same intersection as Booker and White. She was stabbed numerous times but managed to survive the attack and make it to police officers. She said a Black man had attacked her in a silver or gray car, which police believe may be Lyle's.

In July 2017, 27-year-old Armani Dante Morgan was found dead in a field in what Dallas officers called an unsolved mystery.

Police originally thought Edward Thomas, the man who attacked Booker in April, was connected to her death but found no evidence. In April, Booker accidentally hit Thomas' car in a parking lot and a crowd formed around the two, egging Thomas on to attack her.

He broke her wrist and gave her a concussion. Thomas is now facing charges of aggravated assault.

At a press conference, Booker spoke of her fears for the future and her worry that people will only start to care when tragedy strikes.

“This has been a rough week for myself, the transgender community and also the city of Dallas,” Ms. Booker told the crowd.

“This time, I can stand before you. Whereas in other scenarios, we are at a memorial.”

Last week, the Dallas Police Department asked the FBI for help while dealing with this tragic string of incidents.

#BREAKING Dallas police arrest Kendrell Lavar Lyles, 34, in connection to the murder of Muhlaysia Booker, a black transgender woman. He’s also a person of interest in the murder of at least one another transgender woman found in White Rock Lake. @FOX4
pic.twitter.com/s5LmdHNmHR

— Alex Boyér (@AlexBoyerFox4) June 12, 2019

“All I do is think about her. At first, I couldn’t eat or sleep,” her father Peirre Booker told local station CBS 21.

“I just never thought in a million days I’d bury one of my kids, I wanted my kids to bury me.”

Brittany-White

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