Tragically, on Sunday, November 15, 2024, Cocoa was found shot and killed on Guilford College Road in Greensboro, North Carolina. She was just 26 years old. Cocoa is at least the 30th violent killing of a transgender or gender expansive person in 2024. We say “at least” because too often these deaths go unreported — or misreported. Cocoa was reportedly shot by her ex-boyfriend, 31, who has been charged with first-degree murder. According to friends and family, Cocoa had broken up with him four months prior, and he had been “violently upset” ever since.

Tragically, interpersonal violence accounts for a significant number of fatalities against transgender and gender expansive people. Since HRC first began tracking fatal violence in 2013, one-quarter (26.0%) of transgender and gender-expansive people with known killers had their lives taken by a romantic, sexual, and/or dating partner–and it is likely this may even be an undercount. To date, the relationship of the victim to the killer is still unknown for a third (33.9%) of all identified cases of fatal violence.

At the same time, gun violence plays an outsized role. Seven in ten (69.4%) victims of fatal violence identified since 2013 were killed by a gun, including two-thirds (62.5%) of victims killed by an intimate partner, and three-quarters (76.6%) of victims who were Black trans women. More than 25,000 hate crimes in the U.S. involve a firearm each year, which equates to almost 70 cases a day, according to a 2023 report from Everytown for Gun Safety in partnership with HRC and The Equality Federation Support Fund, “Remembering and Honoring Pulse: Anti-LGBTQ Bias and Guns Are Taking Lives of Countless LGBTQ People.” The report also notes a marked increase in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes, especially against transgender people.

We must demand better from our elected officials and reject harmful anti-transgender legislation at the local, state and federal levels, while also considering every possible way to make ending this violence a reality. It is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, especially Black transgender women. The intersections of racism, transphobia, sexism, biphobia and homophobia conspire to deprive them of 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-expansive community.

More resources:

• Learn more about the fatal violence cases that HRC is tracking where details are unclear. You may find a list of these cases here.

• Join HRC's CountMeIn campaign to take action for transgender and non-binary people.

• Read these guidelines and this FAQ for journalists to ensure greater accuracy and respect in reporting.

• Learn about how transgender and non-binary people are combating transphobia, stigma and anti-trans violence through our Celebrating Changemakers series.