Tayy Dior Thomas, “Shy But Fearless” 17-Year-Old Trans Girl, Killed in Alabama

Samantha Riedel
·2 min read

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Tayy Dior Thomas, a 17-year-old Black transgender girl, was shot and killed in Mobile, AL on May 7. Her long-term boyfriend has been charged with her murder.

Details surrounding Thomas’ death are still developing. Police sources told local FOX affiliate WALA that officers found her body around 3:30 a.m. on the front lawn of a house on Darwood Drive, near a car that had crashed into the building. Later that day, police arrested 20-year-old Carl Mitchell Washington Jr. and charged him with murdering Thomas, discharging a gun into a vehicle, and attempting to evade arrest, per arrest records. Washington allegedly fired 18 shots into the car, and is currently being held without bond, according to NBC affiliate WPMI.

Thomas was initially misgendered and identified by her deadname in media reports, including WALA. Her family confirmed that she was transgender and went by the name Tayy Dior in a report from the Human Rights Campaign this week (although that release also references Thomas’ legal first name).

According to Thomas’ family, she and Washington had been dating for roughly a year prior to the alleged murder. Family members believe that Washington killed Thomas out of fear that their relationship would be made public, and expressed concern that police were not investigating the killing as a hate crime. (Murder is a class A felony in Alabama, with a minimum sentence of 10 years. Per Alabama code, a hate crime enhancement would increase the minimum sentence to 15 years.)

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“Tayy always had a huge smile on her face showing her dimples,” her grandmother told HRC, adding that the “shy but fearless” girl was known for her selflessness and natural leadership ability. The family is currently raising funds for funeral costs on GoFundMe.

Tori Cooper, community engagement director of HRC’s Transgender Justice Initiative, lamented Thomas’ death and the alleged intimate partner violence that caused it.

“[Tayy] had so much life ahead of her, and it is heartbreaking that that potential was ripped away so violently by someone she was supposed to be able to trust,” Cooper wrote in a statement this week. “So far, in 2024, nearly half of all [trans] victims of fatal violence with a known killer were killed by a romantic or sexual partner, friend, or family member. Trans people should be able to trust that the people in their lives will help protect them from this violence, not cause it.”

Thomas is at least the second known trans teenager in the U.S. to die violently in May alone. On May 6, the day before Thomas’ death, 18-year-old Jazlynn Johnson was shot and killed in Las Vegas, allegedly by a 17-year-old friend.

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