Twenty-six year-old Derricka Banner became the 20th transgender person murdered this year when she was shot to death in her car early Tuesday morning in Charlotte, NC, as rain and wind from Irma were lashing the city. Montavious Sanchez Berry, 18, was arrested later on Tuesday and charged with the murder.

Banner was originally from New York, but has recently been a resident on Lenoir, NC. Sanchez is a Charlotte resident.

Banner’s death comes just before Charlotte is set to host North Carolina Trans Pride 2017, an event organized by and for the state’s trans community. According to posts on the event’s Facebook page, organizers planned to honor Banner, along with other transgender victims of violence, in a “community altar space.”

According to a 2015 survey,

Nearly one in 10 respondents reported being physically attacked because of their gender identity in the year prior to completing the survey, while 46% said they had been verbally harassed over the same time period.

Charlotte police say they are communicating with the FBI about the shooting death Tuesday of a person who friends say was a transgender woman.

Banner was misgendered and dead-named by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police on Thursday.

North Carolina has a hate crime law, but it does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity.

I am angry that yet again another black transwoman has become the victim of a heinous gun crime. My thoughts go out to Derricka’s family and friends, as well as to the LGBTQ community in North Carolina. We can no longer afford to ignore just how much of a threat gun violence is to so many marginalized communities in our state, as well as our entire country. Public safety is a right that should be enjoyed by all Americans, and not just some.

--Christy Clark, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America