Trans woman in fear for her life after savage mob of thugs viciously beat her in her own home
Trans woman Kendall Stephens says she hasn’t been able to sleep since the vicious attack (ABC 7 News)
Philadelphia police are investigating a vicious mob attack on a trans woman in front of two children in her own home.
Kendall Stephens, 34, was enjoying a quiet night in with her husband, her 12-year-old goddaughter and another child when she heard a fight break out outside her house.
“It was a brawl, people were fighting, people were throwing around liquor bottles all in front of my property while I had kids inside,” she told ABC 7 News.
Stephens ventured outside the house and told them she’d call 911 if they didn’t keep it down, but the crowd instead turned on her.
“This lady comes balling at me like a bull and starts swinging at me. I tried to close my front door, and as I’m doing this, she kicks it open and starts attacking me all about the face.
“They called me a t****y, they said, ‘You’re a man, we’re gonna get you.’ And they were repeating this all throughout the beating, said that I deserved it,” she said.
“My lips are swollen, my jaw is very sore, barely even able to chew it’s so bad.”
Police at first reported it as a simple assault, but later Stephens had to seek medical attention at a hospital and staff contacted the authorities.
No arrests have been made, but police are searching for a number of individuals who were captured on a nearby surveillance camera before it was ripped from the wall.
Deja Alvarez, the co-chair of the Philadelphia LGBTQ Police Liason committee, is looking into the case to ensure justice is served.
“I was grateful that Kendall was alive, but I am angry at some that this happened. I am also angry at some of the ways it was handled,” said Alvarez.
“There will be an example made that it is not going to be open season on trans people.”
Meanwhile, Stephens has been left in fear of her life, unable to sleep as the attackers threatened to return to her home and “finish the job”.
“They threatened to come back and finish the job. [They were the] last words they said to me,” she recalled. “They already showed what kind of monsters they are, they’re savages.”
Anyone with any information regarding the attack is asked to call police at 215-686-TIPS.
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