Off-duty DC police officer Kenneth Furr is in jail for shooting at members of the DC transgender community early in the morning of August 26. Court papers say that he climbed on to the hood of his car and fired his Glock into a car which had 5 people inside. Three of those people were injured.
As he was standing on the hood of the car, court records say Furr shouted "I'm gonna kill you."
Police recovered 5 shells from the scene. They also tested Furr for alcohol and he blew .15. Furr was arrested for DWI and assault with a dangerous weapon.
There was a confrontation between Furr and the 5 other people 90 minutes before the shooting in a CVS parking lot.
One person suffered multiple gunshot wounds and two others were injured incidentally. Two of the victims were transwomen.
Furr was on restricted duty at the time of the incident, due to a medical condition. He was not authorized to carry a firearm. He had been previously fired and reinstated by the MPD.
The DC Trans Coalition organized a rally.
Today, we were notified by the Metropolitan Police Department of a shooting involving transgender individuals in the area of First and Pierce Streets NW around 5:30 AM this morning. We are still attempting to gather information, but preliminary accounts indicate two vehicles collided at the site, one driven by an off-duty MPD officer, and the other containing five people, two of whom are trans. The off-duty officer fired his service weapon at the three people in the other car, hitting one victim three times, and one victim one time. Community activists have visited the two trans women in the hospital, where they were treated for non-life threatening injuries. We have learned that the shooter and at least one victim may have known each other previously, and had an altercation at a nearby store before the shooting, but we do not yet know the nature of their relationship.
We are gathering at 6PM at the site of the incident to demand accountability and transparency from MPD on the clear trend of transphobic and homophobic actions coming from its officers. This incident is just another in a long line of systemic violence that trans women, and particularly trans women of color, face on a daily basis. Many members of our community have noted that this summer has been particularly violent. MPD reports at least eight violent crimes against trans people this year, but service organizations have collected information about many more. This is also the second violent attack involving an off-duty MPD officer in the past ten months. Tonight we hope to draw attention to the police department's complicity in the ongoing violence that our communities must confront. Please spread the word and join us at First and Pierce NW. This violence must not go unacknowledged.
--DCist
This is the second case where an off-duty police officer has attacked a member of the transgender community.
--Jason Terry, DC Trans Coalition
Terry added that crimes against transpeople tend to mostly go unsolved in contrast to the relatively high success rate for crimes involving the general public.
New York City
Taylor Murphy, 28, an FDNY firefighter noted for his appearance as Mr. March in a firefighters' 2011 calendar (not the official FDNY calendar), was in court on August 25 for attacking his girlfriend, Claudia Chiarrez, 30.
Chiarrez also goes by the stage name of Amber Vaughn, is a post-op transwoman and a model. She weighs 124 pounds. Murphy weighs 245 pounds.
The assault began outside the club Flashdance at Broadway and 52nd Street on August 6. Apparently some of the customers at the club hit on Claudia and Murphy didn't care for that. So he dragged her by her hair for three blocks, then tossed her over his shoulder, found a phone booth and shoved her inside. Then he choked her before leaving.
Later he showed up at Hotel Metro on W 35th Street, grabbed Chiarrez by the neck, slammed her on to the bed and began to kick, punch and bite various parts of her body.
FDNY has suspended Murphy.