Dallas police arrest 20-year-old man in fatal shooting of black trans woman

Dallas police have arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with the fatal shooting of a black transgender woman last month.

According to authorities, Angelo Walker killed 22-year-old Merci Mack over an alleged video of the two that she was going to post on social media.

Mack was found with multiple gunshot wounds on June 30 in a parking lot in the east Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas. She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Walker was arrested and charged with murder Wednesday by the North Texas Fugitive Task Force and later booked into the Dallas County jail. His bail was set at $900,000.

According to the local ABC-affiliate WFAA-TV, a witness told investigators that he was inside his apartment when he heard gunshots around 5 a.m. When he looked out the window, he saw Walker chasing Mack through the parking lot and firing multiple shots at her.

The witness, who hasn’t been identified, told police that he’s known the suspect for more than a year and a half.

He also told investigators that Walker and Mack had an altercation over an alleged video of the two.

Detectives said that in a video posted on Facebook the day before she was killed, Mack said that she was going to post an intimate video of them on her Snapchat account.

The victim’s sister, Tyeshia Rickett, told The Dallas Morning News that her family was relieved to learn of Walker’s arrest.

According to the Human Rights Community, Mack is believed to be the 18th known violent death of a transgender or gender non-conforming person in the U.S. in 2020. Nearly all of them have been trans women of color.

“Another black transgender woman has had her life stolen from her,” Tori Cooper, HRC’s director of community engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative, said in a statement earlier this month.

“We cannot become numb to the fact that our community has learned of more killings of transgender and gender non-conforming people in the past few weeks than HRC has ever tracked in the past seven years. Her friends say that Merci Mack was a young, upbeat soul who deserved to experience a full life. HRC is mourning with Merci’s loved ones and are calling for a full, thorough investigation into her death.”

Since the HRC reported her death, just eight days ago, the organization has already confirmed the violent deaths of two other black transgender women.