Loved ones are looking for answers after a 25-year-old transgender woman was shot and killed recently in Chicago.
Red, who was also known as Barbie by her friends and family, was among two people who were shot early Sept. 8 in the 4500 block of West Monroe Street. Red died after being struck in the back, while the other person was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Medical Center, according to Chicago police.
Details surrounding the shooting were sparse, but police said the shooter ran off from the scene. No one was in custody Sept. 12 while detectives continued investigating, police said.
“I’m still trying to understand what’s going on,” said Darlene Joseph, one of Red’s eight younger siblings. “I have not fully processed that she’s not here with us anymore.”
Red, who grew up in a family building in Lawndale, was known for her lively personality, appreciation for music and fierce loyalty to her loved ones.
“She was full of life, and you could feel her presence whenever she walked into a room,” Joseph said. “She had this positive energy that could brighten anyone’s day.”
Jae’Lon Toliver, one of Red’s close friends, described Red’s personality as “very fun and bubbly.”
The two met as teenagers and instantly clicked, hanging out every single day, Toliver said.
Some of Toliver’s favorite memories with Red are the few times she would ask Toliver to do her hair and makeup, she said.
“She had ‘Barbie’ tattooed on her face, so she would always challenge me to do her makeup without covering her tattoos,” Toliver said. “She’d laugh because I’d always have to end up redrawing her tattoos over the makeup so you could still see them.”
Red was also an ardent Nicki Minaj fan, adopting the nickname Barbie after the rapper’s fan-favorite persona, Red’s mother, Latoya Alexander, told Windy City Times. Red had just returned from Philadelphia, where she saw Minaj in concert for the second time this year, when she was shot, Alexander said.
Alexander and her daughter saw the rapper together in March during her stop at Chicago’s United Center, she said. Red FaceTimed Alexander during the Philadelphia show so her mother could still be there in spirit, Alexander said.
“My baby was always inspired by Nicki’s music and related to its messages of being yourself, enjoying your life and staying focused so you can accomplish anything,” Alexander said.
Red had been dreaming of starting her own business selling lashes, wigs and other self-care products to the community, Alexander said. Red encouraged her mother to go back to culinary school, and the two had plans on buying a food truck where Alexander could sell her dishes and Red could sell her beauty products.
“She dreamed of spreading the love she felt from everyone else,” Alexander said.
Red supported all her loved ones this fiercely, said Joseph, who described their bond as sisters as “unbreakable.”
As a big sister, Red was protective and loyal, going out of her way to look out for Joseph, she said. Red was also forgiving, never holding a grudge against her sister and making sure they resolved any conflicts that arose between them.
“Even if we went through periods of ups and downs, I could always call on her for whatever,” Joseph said. “To this day, she never played about me. This is how she was with us.”
Alexander said Red always valued her family, who stood behind her when she started transitioning at 15 years old. Red also surrounded herself with a community of chosen family, which included other transgender women she considered sisters.
“Some of her friends’ families deserted them because they’re trans,’ Alexander said. “So my baby always appreciated her family loving her for who she is, because a lot of trans people don’t get that opportunity. And she made sure her friends always had a place in our family.”
Red is at least the 26th transgender person to be killed in the United States this year, according to data collected by the Human Rights Campaign. In Chicago, at least 14 trans and gender-nonconforming people have been killed since 2016, according to a recent Sun-Times report. However, violence against transgender people is often underreported.
“This violence against the trans community needs to stop,” said Alexander. “People should not be murdered because of how they want to live.”
Alexander wants to raise awareness for the violence transgender people face in her daughter’s memory, and she hopes people will donate to transgender social service organizations or support other families who have lost trans loved ones in her daughter’s honor.
“There are 26 transgender people who have been killed this year, and I want those families to be supported, too, just like my baby would have wanted,” Alexander said.