CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, SC
A transgender woman was found shot dead inside a car on a rural South Carolina road Easter morning, and authorities do not know if gender identification was the reason for the brutal killing.
The victim, identified as Wendell Price Jr., was found slumped over the steering wheel of the car in rural Chesterfield County on Sunday morning, according to the Associated Press. Price, who owned the car, had been shot multiple times in the neck and shoulder.
“Whoever it was, was angry," Sheriff Jay Brooks said of the killer, according to FOX 46. "You could tell by the number of shots."
Investigators say Price, 29, lived in a mobile home outside Pageland and was known to family and friends as "Sasha Wall," according to WSOC-TV.
Brooks told media outlets that investigators are still working the case and believe Price knew the killer.
"He was dressed (in women's clothing) and had makeup on and that kind of stuff," Brooks told WCNC. "But whether that has anything to do with this case or not, we have no idea."
Investigators have no evidence Price's killing was a hate crime and believe it was more likely domestic violence-related, WSOC reports.
The Anson County Sheriff's Office and State Law Enforcement Division are assisting in the investigation, according to WBTV.
The Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights organization that advocates for LGBTQ people, documented the deaths of at least 28 transgender people who were fatally shot or killed by other violent means in the U.S. in 2017, up from 23 in 2016.
