Florida Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action Respond to Shooting of Nedra Sequence Morris, a 50-year-old Black Transgender Woman, in Opa-locka

The Florida chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, released the following statement in response to the death of Nedra Sequence Morris, a transgender Black woman, who was shot and killed in Opa-locka, Florida this past weekend.

“Nedra was deeply loved and it’s clear that she will be dearly missed,” said Wendy Malloy, a volunteer with the Florida chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Our hearts are with her loved ones during this difficult time, but we know that thoughts and prayers are not enough. Her death is yet another grave reminder of the disproportionate impact that gun violence has on transgender and gender non-conforming people in America, especially on Black transgender women. ”

Nedra’s death marked at least the 14th violent killing of a transgender or gender non-conforming person in 2022 in the United States and Puerto Rico. It’s likely there have been more deaths that have gone unreported or victims who have been misgendered. 

2021 was the deadliest year on record for trans and gender nonconforming people in the U.S. Some trends from 2017 to 2021 that researchers fear are continuing in 2022:

• There was an 93% increase in incidents of tracked transgender homicides from 2017 to 2021 (from 29 incidents in 2017 to 56 incidents in 2021). 
• Guns are the most frequently used weapon in the murder of trans people. Nearly three-fourths of trans people killed in America were killed with a gun.
• Black trans women account for the majority of homicide victims in the trans community. To put this into perspective, while Black people make up 16% of the trans population, 64% of known trans homicide victims between 2017 and 2021 were Black trans women. The majority of homicides (73%) involving a gun were of Black trans women.

Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund has tracked homicides of transgender and gender non-comforming people in the U.S. since 2017. In addition to breaking down gun violence to the state- and county-level, the platform includes a database of known trans or gender nonconforming homicide victims in the United States.