The transgender community and the family of a transgender woman are currently mourning the death of India Clarke after police said she was found apparently beaten to death in a Tampa, Florida, park last week Tuesday.
Clarke, 25, is believed to be the 10th transgender woman murdered in the U.S. this year, the majority of whom were trans women of color, according to reports published by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) and the Human Rights Campaign (HCR), along with the Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC).
The NCAVP is an advocacy group that works to prevent and respond to LGBTQ+ and HIV-affected violence, and the HCR and TPOCC are also LGBTQ+ advocacy groups that partnered earlier this year to release a report detailing the violence transgender people face.
Clarke was discovered with “obvious signs of homicidal violence to the upper body,” lying on the ground next to basketball courts at a park by Tampa’s University Area Community Center, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News today in a statement. Officials found the body after a center employee called authorities around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff’s officials said they are investigating Clarke’s death as a homicide, though they are waiting for the completion of an autopsy to confirm the exact cause of death.
Source: Yahoo News
