A 17-year-old has been arrested in the murder of transgender woman Koko Da Doll.
On April 26, Jermarcus Jernigan turned himself in after a warrant was obtained for murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, Atlanta police told NBC News. Police had released surveillance images of a man wearing a jersey approaching the entrance of an apartment building where Koko, also known as Rasheeda Williams, appeared to have left when she was shot. Jernigan confirmed he was the person in the photos but denied the shooting. He is in custody at Fulton County Jail.
Koko was found on the sidewalk in downtown Atlanta earlier this month. She was well-known for her appearance in “Kokomo City,” a documentary following four Black transgender sex workers. She was murdered less than two weeks after Ashley Burton, another Black trans woman, was fatally shot in southwest Atlanta.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 10 transgender people nationwide have been killed this year, including Tortuguita, a non-binary queer environmental activist who was shot by Georgia state troopers in January protesting the “Cop City” police training facility slated to be built in the Weelaunee Forest.