Washington, D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey has called Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) to assure her that D.C. Police are investigating the killings of Deon “Ukea” Davis and Wilbur “Stephanie” Thomas, two transgender teens, as a hate crime among other possible motives under investigation.
Norton wrote Chief Ramsey asking that the Aug. 12 murders be investigated as hate crimes because the execution-style shootings of Davis and Thomas strongly suggested that they were killed because of their sexual orientation.
The Congresswoman said: “I never doubted the work of our police department, which has a Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit that has become very responsive to the gay community. However, if this crime had been committed in Georgia or South Carolina, many of us in the District would have been at rallies asserting that, in the absence of prosecution, such crimes reflect negatively on the jurisdiction where they occurred. I don’t ever want to feel that way about the progressive District of Columbia. Deterring this kind of crime is not only the business of police, but of every citizen who believes in human rights and a decent society.”