Tragically, Kenji was shot and killed in the early morning hours of July 1, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. Her death coincides with the closing of Capitol Hill Pride, though it is unclear if Kenji had taken part in the festivities hours prior to her death. Kenji’s death is at least the 21st violent killing of a transgender or gender expansive person in 2024, and the second to occur in Washington, following the death of Reyna Hernandez in February of that year. We say “at least” because too often these deaths go unreported — or misreported. The Human Rights Campaign is deeply saddened to report on Kenji’s passing.

Unfortunately, there are no clear details regarding how Kenji’s death transpired as local media outlets in Seattle have yet to report on her murder. Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported that police responded to reports of gunfire in the parking lot of Teto’s Cantina shortly after midnight.. According to Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, responders attempted lifesaving efforts on Kenji, but were unsuccessful and she was declared dead at the scene.

On a social media post, the Lavender Rights Project, a nonprofit organization in Seattle, addressed a lack of local news coverage by writing: “…we heard not an outcry. Not a vibrant buzz from our community in Capitol Hill, not an outpour of outrage for a call to rally. Our local news sources retracted their resources and the publishing of the senseless death of Kenji Spurgeon was made invisible on the pages. Or the information provided was so limited it made her virtually invisible. Kenji’s Black Trans life mattered and we mourn the absences and the invisibility of what we can not know. We mourn the silence of her story that has taken 18 days to reach our community. We mourn the ways gun violence took a 23 year old’s life, full of promise, and we bear the weight of knowing these tragedies are not Washington state specific.”

Later, on July 4, 2024, three days after initially reporting about the shooting, Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported that the victim had been identified as Kenji. The same report states that Seattle Police reported taking someone into custody the night of the incident but have yet to announce an arrest for Kenji’s death. Seattle Police are calling on the public for assistance in the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Seattle Police Department’s Violent Crimes Tip Line at 206- 233-5000.

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. In 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, the FBI recorded a record-high number of hate crimes related to gender identity, including a 33% jump in hate crimes on the basis of gender identity from the year before. Gun violence disproportionately impacts the transgender community: To date, over half (57.1%) of all victims of fatal violence in 2024 were killed with a gun. Tragically, Kenji’s death occurred just one day before that of Shannon Boswell in Atlanta, Georgia, another Black trans woman who was also shot and killed.

At the state level, transgender and gender-expansive people in Washington are explicitly protected from discrimination in employment, housing, education and public spaces. Washington does include sexual orientation and/or gender identity as a protected characteristic in its hate crimes law. Though we have recently seen some political gains that support and affirm transgender people, we have also faced unprecedented anti-LGBTQ+ attacks in the states. In June 2023, the Human Rights Campaign declared a National State of Emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans, as a result of the more than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced into state houses that year, over 80 of which were signed into law—more than in any other year. As of this writing, over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced into state houses since the beginning of 2024, with more than 30 bills passing to-date.

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 Count Me In 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.