Jasmine Collins
Age 3323 Jun 2015
Kansas City, Missouri (USA)
Stabbed
TDoR list ref: tgeu/23-Jun-2015/Jasmine Collins
Jasmine was stabbed to death by one of her neighbours outside her apartment complex.
As reported by the Guardian, court documents state that Collins, who was identified as male in an initial homicide incident report, went to Tia Townsel, an acquaintance from her complex, for a haircut. They started arguing over a pair of shoes and a physical altercation began in the apartment and continued into the parking lot. Collins hit Townsel over the head with a vodka bottle. Then Townsel retrieved a knife from her apartment and proceeded to stab Collins, according to court documents.
Tia Townsel, 33, was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Media reports say Collins was stabbed to death following an argument over shoes.
Sgt. Kari Thompson confirmed details first reported by The Guardian, a U.K. newspaper. A woman named Tia Townsel, 33, has been charged with second-degree murder.
Collins, who police at first identified by a male name because of the state-issued identification she was carrying, was stabbed June 23 in a neighborhood north of downtown known as “The Bottoms." Kansas City TV station KCMO reported it was the second deadly stabbing at the Holiday Apartments in as many months.
Both KCMO and KCTV referred to Collins as a man based on documents from police:
“Court documents state Collins went to see Townsel [pictured, right] for a haircut when the two began arguing over a pair of Vans shoes. Witnesses say the physical altercation started in the apartment and continued out in the parking lot. “According to police, Collins hit Townsel over the head with a bottle of vodka. Townsel then retrieved the knife from her apartment that she used to stab the victim. Police records say that when Collin (sic) continued to yell at her, Townsel stabbed [her] and left [her] lying in the grass.
“One witness says Collins asked her for help and when she attempted to perform CPR, Townsel threatened her. The witness returned to her apartment to call authorities.”
Like most trans murder victims in the USA, Jasmine was a trans woman of colour.
Kris Wade remembers 33-year-old Jasmine Collins, as a "young person, out there, struggling to survive on her own."
Wade had known Collins for about a year as part of the Justice Project, a non-profit that provides advocacy and services to transgender women in poverty, among others.
TvT project: The Guardian 23.08.2015 & The Advocate 23.08.2015
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/24/two-transgender-murders-kansas-city
https://www.hrc.org/blog/jasmine-collins-and-the-continuing-epidemic-of-anti-transgender-violence
https://www.kcur.org/post/wake-murders-transgender-people-feel-theres-bulls-eye-them-kansas-city
