Monica Diamond
Age 3418 Mar 2020
Charlotte, North Carolina (USA)
Shot
TDoR list ref: tgeu/18-Mar-2020/Monika Diamond
Monica was shot multiple times while medics were trying to treat her inside an ambulance. A suspect has been arrested on murder charges.
HRC is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Monika Diamond, a 34-year-old Black transgender woman and business owner killed in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 18. Diamond’s death is believed to be the fourth violent death of a transgender or gender non-conforming person in 2020.
Diamond was active in the Charlotte LGBTQ and nightlife community and was the co-owner and founder of Ncphyne Promotion Company LLC, an event promotion company that is about to honor its 10th anniversary, according to its Facebook page. She also was the co-CEO of the International Mother of the Year Pageantry System -- a pageant that honors LGBTQ mothers.
Through her work, Diamond spent her adult life creating community and spaces for LGBTQ people in Charlotte and beyond to come together and celebrate their lives. She was a chosen mother to countless. She was a business owner, a loving friend and she did not deserve to have her life taken from her.
WBTV reports that Charlotte police and paramedics responded to a call about a disturbance, where they were met by a group of people who noted a woman, Diamond, was experiencing shortness of breath. After Diamond was placed in an ambulance, she was shot several times. No additional people were harmed in the shooting. Prentice Bess, 34, has been arrested for the shooting and faces a charge of murder.
The shooting happened around 4 a.m. in the Days Inn/Azteca Mexican Restaurant parking lot on E Woodlawn Road near Old Pineville Road.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say officers were called to the Days Inn regarding a disturbance, where they were met by five to six people. Medic responded to the area after one of the people reported having shortness of breath.
Police say Medic was with the victim in the back of an ambulance when she requested a friend to come assist her. Medic denied Bess entry into the ambulance, and that’s when police say he left, came back and shot Diamond “several times.” Medic tried to treat Diamond but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
https://www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-mourns-monika-diamond-black-trans-woman-killed-in-north-carolina
https://www.wbtv.com/2020/03/18/homicide-investigation-underway-south-charlotte/
https://twitter.com/TaylorSimpsonTV/status/1240200898997104646
