The man who killed Angel Naira in 2021 was found guilty of first degree murder today according to WPXI. Note that WPXI deadnames and misgenders Angel, but does refer to her as a transgender woman.
Testimony in the trial of Darnese Raines revealed Angel was shot four separate times in the face and neck. Raines’ DNA was found on her body and throughout the apartment. No sentencing date has been set.
Angel was also known as Bee or B. Born in Aliquippa, according to her brother, she worked for home health care full time, was a graduate from Aliquippa High School, and graduated from Beaver Falls Beauty Academy.
Angel was the fourth trans BIPOC neighbor killed violently in Southwestern PA during 2021. In February, 24 year old Chyna Carrillo was murdered by a man she was dating in New Wilmington, Lawrence County. The following week 22 year old Jasmine Cannady and their 16 year old brother Jeffrey ‘JJ’ Bright were murdered by their mother in Ambridge.
Just six weeks later on New Years Day 2022, Black Trans Woman Amäriey Lèį (Myara) was shot to death in Wilkinsburg, Allegheny County. There has been no suspect identified in her death.
This span of 11 months has been the most violent period of time on record for the trans community in this region. More recently, a 14-year-old trans teen girl was brutally murdered in Sharon, Mercer County in Northwestern PA in the summer of 2024.
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