DETROIT – Friends of Amber Monroe say they can't stop crying about her death.
The transgender woman was shot and killed in Palmer Park on Saturday. The LGBT community says the 20-year-old was at least the 12th transgender woman to fall victim to a violent crime this year. On Tuesday, a woman named Brie was shot in the hand at John R. and Montana.
A meeting is planned for Wednesday night with the transgender community and Police Chief James Craig. Transgender rights advocate Juliasa Abad said she wants to tell the chief that proper records aren't being kept of the crimes if the police see the victim as a man and not as a woman.
"I want them to start gendering us correctly so that we are able to find the girls that are missing or potentially killed, that haven't been solved," said Abad.
Officer Danielle Woods is the Detroit Police Department's LGBT liaison officer. She is hosting Wednesday night's meeting at Palmer Park (it begins at 6 p.m.). Her goal is to let those who are afraid to know that police have not forgotten about them.
"We have training for the officers and Equality Michigan will be here tonight and they actually do training for pretty much anyone who needs it. But they deal with sexuality and gender identity as apposed to how you were born physically," said Woods.