Joana Domingos dies after being shot seven times. She is the 141st known trans person murdered in Brazil this year alone
Joana Domingo, a trans woman, was shot seen times in a rural patch of Brazil. (Facebook)
Another day, another grim milestone. Joana Domingos, 19, was murdered Sunday (25 October) in Alagoas, Brazil, shot seven times while she stood outside an apartment complex.
As some remember Domingos as a spirited teen with her entire life ahead of her, LGBT+ activists, nearly inured to crime, confronted the brutal killing with chilling familiarity: Domingos is the 141st trans person known to be killed in the country this year, according to monitoring groups.
Indeed, despite the criminalisation of homophobia and transphobia, Brazil is the deadliest country in the world for trans people.
Domingos was gunned down in the entrance of the Antônio Lins Mata do Rolo complex, Jornal de Alagoas reported.
Authorities said she was lured into a thicket before she was murdered, her body left on a pile of broken branches and plastic debris.
First-responders fled to the scene, but mobile emergency care service workers were unable to save her.
As Joana Domingos becomes yet another grim figure, a system that doesn’t care, says activist.
“Unfortunately, this rampant violence mainly affects minorities,” Nildo Correia, Grupo Gay de Alagoas chief, told the outlet.
“With 15 LGBT+ people killed this year in Rio Largo, Alagoas, the statistics reveal an average of more than one murder per month.”
He attributed the dizzying rates of trans death, in part, to the elevated levels of homeless, joblessness and poverty, as well as the hazards each one brings.”
But such statistics are no doubt even higher, Correia warned, and fail to grasp the full extent of the perils the community faces.
In the patchwork of figures sources by on-the-ground activists and law enforcement officials, many killings of trans people go unreported – riddled by detectives and media outlets that misgender victims.
“In many cases, there is not even the suspect, let alone the defendant, I confess,” he said.
“This is the reality, perhaps, due to the absence of public equipment and the lack of interest of some professionals.
As the climate of fear continues and a paucity of figures remains, Corria called on a dedicated police task force to tackle the growing hostility towards trans people.
“Although the framework will only change if the proposal materialises, with a structured police station and with a team capable of working on the issue of serving this public.”
