Rosa Machuca
Age 2411 Aug 2025
Austin, Texas (USA)
Shot
TDoR list ref: tgeu/tdor2025/11-Aug-2025/Rosa Machuca
Rosa was one of three people killed in a shooting in the parking lot of her workplace, a Target store in Austin. The other victims were an elderly man and a 4 year-old child.
Ethan Neineker, 32, was arrested after the murders.
The fiancée of a trans woman killed in a triple homicide has criticised a police precinct for deadnaming her.
Rosa Machuca was found dead in a parking lot in Austin, Texas, after a shooting at a local Target where she reportedly worked. She was just 24.
Officers responding to the shooting on Monday (11 August) reportedly found Machuca with several gunshot wounds, as well as the body of an elderly man and a four-year-old child, at the Target off Ohlen Road, Austin.
The following day, the Austin Police Department released names and photos of the deceased, but reportedly used Rosa’s deadname – a term used to refer to a trans person’s name pre-transition.
Machuca’s fiancée, Kim Dang, told local outlet KXAN she was “very hurt” by seeing her partner’s deadname used by the police. “I knew she never wanted to be recognised as her deadname,” she said. “I never wanted them to be remembered as their deadname. I want them to be remembered for who they really, truly want to be.”
Dang, who had reportedly been in an 11-year relationship with Machuca since high school, said her partner came out as trans in 2022 and had been using her chosen name for several years. She said Rosa had been reluctant to change her legal name given the anti-trans climate in Texas – one of the most anti-LBGTQ+ states in the US – and was “waiting for the right moment.”
Police have reportedly arrested a 32-year-old man, Ethan Neineker, in connection with the incident. Investigating officers said on Tuesday afternoon that Neineker has been charged with First-Degree Felony Murder of Rosa, as well as two counts of Capital murder of a 4-year-old girl and her grandfather.
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/15/rosa-machuca-trans-woman-austin-police/
https://www.edgemedianetwork.com/Story/156939
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/map-timeline-of-events-following-austin-target-shooting/
https://www.instagram.com/p/DNWLVw5vXRz/
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNT1bNaJgWr/
https://x.com/Austin_Police/status/1954995503353172283
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B4XE2UEiyU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06iB22kFLK4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMW5ERP1rJk
