A transgender woman who was shot by a stranger as she walked down the street may have been targeted in a hate crime, police said.
The unnamed victim was attacked on Thursday around 5:10 p.m. in the Fuller Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, local news station NBC 7 reported. She was on the 200 block of West Root Street when she was approached by an unknown gunman. He yelled homophobic slurs at the woman and ridiculed her woman for wearing a dress. "You're a disgrace," he allegedly yelled, before opening fire.
The gunman shot the woman in her right forearm, inflicting what police called a "graze wound." Chicago police have described the attacker as "armed and dangerous."
An increasingly bitter social debate is currently raging in the United States about the rights of transgender people, particularly relating to trans women's inclusion in women-only spaces. This tense atmosphere has seen transgender people attacked in hate crimes and led to companies being boycotted by customers after they supported transgender rights.
Just last month, a transgender wheelchair user was shot with a pellet gun as someone drove past him in the street in Pontiac, Michigan. He told police that his attacker had shouted anti-LGBTQ+ abuse before opening fire.
Regarding last week's incident in Chicago, Kellie Bartoli, spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department, told Newsweek in an email: "The offender then fled the scene in an unknown direction. The victim sustained a graze wound to the right forearm and refused EMS on scene. No one is in custody and Area Detectives are investigating. This incident is currently being investigated as a Hate Crime."
However, ABC 7 reported that the woman had, in fact, received medical treatment from paramedics at the scene, citing Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt. Newsweek reached out to the Chicago Fire Department via email on Monday for comment.
The incident also comes amid a spate of gun crime across the nation that has sparked a fierce debate about gun control, left politicians unable to answer how to address the problem, and led to multiple countries issuing warnings to their citizens considering traveling to the U.S.
Chicago is not immune from the violence.
Last month, Father's Day ended with a mass shooting in the city when several people were gunned down during a community celebration.
That same month, a mother and her 14-year-old son were allowed to walk free after murder charges were dropped that stemmed from the boy shooting a man who had attacked his mom with his fists at a hot dog stand.
