Trans and gender nonconforming best friends murdered in Ohio

Amiri Jean Reid and Kejuan Richardson, both 21, were shot in the head multiple times on the evening of November 14 while driving in Toledo, Ohio, according to police, before their car crashed into a utility pole. The two were taken to Toledo Hospital in critical condition and were pronounced dead minutes later.

Reid was a trans woman and Richardson was gender nonconforming. The victims were both Black and best friends.

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A suspect, Jorenzo Phillips, 19, was identified in the killings and was the subject of an arrest warrant. He was found in Cincinnati on November 23 — Thanksgiving Day — dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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Police discovered the victims after responding to calls about a vehicle crash around 5:30 pm on November 14.

When officers arrived, they found a window shot out and the victims each suffering from gunshot wounds, according to a press release from Toledo Police. The blue vehicle appeared to have run off the road.

A coroner’s office report said an autopsy found Reid died from two gunshot wounds to the head and Richardson died from two gunshot wounds to the head and neck.

Reid identified as a Black trans woman and had a “ribald sense of humor,” PGH Lesbian reported. She followed boxing and popular musicians and enjoyed wordplay. She also shared experiences of transphobia in her social media feed.

Richardson was a Toledo native who identified as gay, Black and gender nonconforming. He was a longtime employee at KFC who enjoyed Avengers movies, basketball, and dining out.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, Reid and Richardson are the 15th Black transgender woman and the 20th trans or gender non-conforming person killed in 2023 with a gun, respectively.

Writing of the plight of trans and gender nonconforming people, HRC said, “The intersections of racism, transphobia, sexism, biphobia, and homophobia conspire to deprive them of the necessities to live and thrive, so we must all work together to cultivate acceptance, reject hate and end stigma for everyone in the trans and gender non-conforming community.”