Patti Wilson
Age 3119 Jun 2026
Grand Junction, Colorado (USA)
Shot
Patti died after being shot multiple times by police while she was apparently attempting to flee in her vehicle while experiencing a mental health crisis.
GRAND JUNCTION — As more information continues to come to light, questions remain about the June 19 Grand Junction Police killing of Patti Wilson.
Around 6:30 p.m on June 19, police responded to initial reports of someone with a knife going “crazy and yelling” in the Dairy Queen at 7th St. and North Ave. After a brief confrontation in the parking lot between police on foot and Wilson in her vehicle, eleven shots rang out. She was hit twice as she was apparently fleeing, crashing into three other vehicles as she succumbed to her wounds seven blocks to the east.
Initial police scanner traffic and media reports misgendered Wilson as a male. It has since come to light that Wilson identified as a woman. In compliance with Colorado law, the Mesa County Coroner and local law enforcement have since referred to Wilson by her preferred gender.
Local comment sections, on the other hand, have become a cesspool of transphobia and hate.
“Patti Wilson’s death has brought out the lowest underbelly of hatred in the Grand Valley,” said local LGBTQ+ activist Heidi Jeanne Hess. “Rampant transphobia is on display for all to see in the extremely violent comments on social media.”
Wilson’s killing has been picked up and spun by reactionary social-media accounts like Libs of TikTok, talk radio, and national right-wing websites, which “promote a false narrative that trans individuals are inherently dangerous and are prone to violence,” said Hess.
KREX TV’s initial Facebook post about the incident, which accurately reported Wilson’s preferred gender, received more laugh reactions than all other reactions combined, and many of the comments are unquotable. At least one was made by a mental health counselor employed by the local public school district.
Wilson, according to those who knew her, has long struggled with mental health. According to friends, Wilson had recently left an abusive relationship. Additionally, like too many young trans people, Wilson struggled through bouts of homelessness.
The videos from inside the Dairy Queen don’t tell a complete story, but they look very much like the dangerous mental health crisis described by eyewitnesses in initial media accounts.
Patti's Bandcamp page is https://pattidracula.bandcamp.com/.
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