brianna “bb” hill is the 21st transwoman murdered in the u.s. in 2019

Just 30-years-old, Brianna “BB” Hill became the most recent Black transgender woman to be murdered when her body was found on Monday, October 14, 2019. Shot by a man reported already to be in custody, Hill was pronounced dead by police officers at the scene of the crime. According to Kansas City Police Captain Tim Hernandez, the man in custody waited for the police to arrive at the scene and there seem to be no other suspects. It is unclear if the unnamed suspect called the police himself or if officers were alerted by a bystander.

Investigators continue to identify a motive for the shooting, which marks at least the fourth transgender homicide in Kansas City this year. Hill is at the very least the 21st known transgender person killed in the United States this year, as the HRC reports. The majority of which are Black women.