US: Murdered Baltimore trans woman was ‘fun-loving, caring’

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

Tributes have been paid to a trans woman who was murdered last week in Baltimore.

Kandy Hall, 40, was found murdered in a field last Tuesday, but police are still yet to disclose the cause of death.

Derrick Smith, who says he grew up with Hall, told the Washington Blade that she was a hairdresser from Annapolis.

He said: “I was there with her at the beginning of the process before she transitioned and everything.

“I knew her as her little boy self and I knew her as Kandy.

“She was a very fun-loving, caring person. She just enjoyed life.

“She lived life to the fullest because I guess her mindset was tomorrow’s not promised to anybody so I’m not going to wait until tomorrow to do this if I can do it today.

Hall had been arrested twice in 2010 for prostitution, but Smith dismissed the assumption.

He said: “I get tired whenever a transgender person is murdered, [people] automatically connect it to prostitution.

“She could have just been walking across the field and there could have been a random hate crime.”

The murderer of trans woman Kelly Young – who was shot to death in Baltimore last year – was never found, but police have not revealed a link between the two cases.

The police department held a special meeting with trans and LGB groups last week to address concerns, but some attendees raised concerns that there was a distinct pattern of anti-trans violence.

Carrie Evans of Equality Maryland said: “Because we do not know the motive behind Kandy’s death, the LGBT communities of Baltimore remain apprehensive and on guard.”

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