Photo:NBC News/Youtube
NBC News/Youtube
Atransgenderman in a wheelchair says he was shot five times in a transphobic attack while going to the gas station to buy a snack on Saturday in Pontiac, Mich.
“It was so bad I was leaking fluid and puddles of fluid were around my legs at the hospital,” he told NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit, pointing to several places where he had been shot.
“Since this happened, I can’t get comfortable. I’ve barely been able to sleep due to the pain," he added.
Blake-Newton said the people who shot him were in a beige-colored sedan and laughed when they drove off.
The alleged victim’s husband, Gareth Newton, told WDIV, “I’m glad he’s still with me. I would have been heartbroken if I’d lost him.”
No arrests have been made in the case.
“It is reprehensible that someone would do such a cowardly and despicable thing to an individual in a wheelchair, and they need to be held accountable,” Oakland County’s Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in a statement, as per reports.
The Sheriff also offered a reward of $1,000 for information that can lead to an arrest.
Targeted attacks on LGBTQ Americans have increased in the past year, according to a report from theAnti-Defamation Leagueand LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, citing over 350 anti-LGBTQ hate incidents in the U.S. from the period starting June 2022.
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Last month, transgender actor Elliot Page said that many transgender people no longer feel as safe as they used to.
In an interview with theLos Angeles Times, Page discussed a transphobic attack he faced on the corner of Sunset and La Cienega Boulevards in West Hollywood, which he describes in his book,Pageboy.
“‘I’m going to f—ing gay bash you, f—–,’ ” the man threatened when Page ran inside the store to employees for help, “This is why I need a gun!”
“Now when I’m in Los Angeles, I don’t feel comfortable like I used to going for walks,” Page said.
source: people.com
