A trans wheelchair user was shot five times with a pellet gun in Pontiac, Michigan, in what he described as an anti-LGBTQ+ attack.
Andrew Blake-Newton, 30, was reportedly shot several times with a pellet gun on Saturday by someone in a car while he was on a sidewalk in Oakland County. Blake-Newton, who has multiple sclerosis, said he was between Montcalm Street and Baldwin Avenue on his way to the store to buy snacks when the incident took place.
A beige-colored sedan pulled over next to him and someone onboard started firing pellets, Blake-Newton said, while others inside the car yelled transphobic slurs and mocked him.
"They drove away shouting 't****y f****t' at me while they laughed," he wrote on Facebook.
He was shot in each leg, on the side, and the wrist, but was unable to get the assailant's plate number.
Newsweek contacted Blake-Newton via Facebook for comment on Tuesday. Police are investigating.
Blake-Newton told Click On Detroit that his wounds after being shot with the pellet gun were "so bad that I was leaking" and "puddles of fluid were around my legs at the hospital." He telephoned his husband Gareth Newton, who called an ambulance to the scene.
Blake-Newton was then treated for minor injuries at a local hospital, where he said that he was left waiting before the pellets were taken out by staff, despite saying he was in pain, as he reported in a video shared on Facebook.
"No one should have to go through this," he told Click On Detroit. "Since this happened, I can't get comfortable. I have barely been able to sleep due to the pain."
He believes that the attack was motivated by transphobia. "It didn't take long for me to realize that I was targeted, this was premeditated," Blake-Newton wrote on Facebook.
"This was because I am an openly transgender individual living in Pontiac, Michigan who runs a blog calling out despicable behavior that exists within our community. It doesn't make sense otherwise, that my assailants would use specific slurs against me when the street lights were burnt out."
Talking to Click On Detroit, he stressed that "this was just a pellet gun," but things could have gone much worse. "I have seen trans people of color on social media being gunned down," he said.
Blake-Newton said that he hopes his story encourages other people who could be victims of hate-motivated attacks to speak out about their experience.
"No trans person should have to fear leaving their home," he wrote on Facebook. "No trans person should have to fear being SHOT, even if it's 'only' with a pellet gun when they go out to get groceries."
While Blake-Newton has reported the attack to the police, the chances of finding the culprits are slim, as he wasn't able to identify them. The Oakland County Sheriff's Office has offered $1,000 for any information that could lead to the arrest of the people who attacked Blake-Newton.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard condemned the attack as "a hateful, despicable criminal act," adding that though it wasn't meant to kill Blake-Newton, "it breaks down their feeling of safety and security and is a taunting, hateful kind of thing to do."
A pellet gun is normally used for target shooting, hunting, or pest control, and can be dangerous when used improperly. Under Michigan law, pellet and BB guns require a license, the same as normal firearms, and a safety inspection certificate—meaning one cannot be purchased without a permit.
Trans people in the U.S. are disproportionately affected by violence and abuse, with a 2021 study published by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finding that they are four times more likely than cisgender people to be subject to these kinds of attacks.
Update, 7/18/23 10:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a comment from Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
