DALLAS – A Dallas man has been arrested and charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a Black transgender woman.
Angelo Walker, 20, was taken into custody Wednesday and is being held in the Dallas County jail on a $900,000 bond. Police said he's responsible for the death of 22-year-old Merci Richey, who was found fatally shot in the parking lot of an apartment complex in late June.
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Walker made an initial appearance before a judge Thursday. His court-appointed attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A witness told police that he watched from an apartment window as Walker chased down and repeatedly shot Richey, according to an affidavit.
The witness, who is not named in the document, said the shooting was over Richey saying she was going to release a video showing her and Walker together.
In a Facebook post the day before she was shot, Richey referred to an upcoming video on another social media site showing “how nasty I got with this (explicit),” according to the affidavit. It censors the final word of the sentence. Richey’s sister, Tyeshia Rickett, described her as a happy person and loving aunt. She told The Dallas Morning News that her family was relieved by Walker’s arrest and moved by an outpouring of tributes to Richey on social media.
Richey's killing follows a string of attacks last year on transgender women in the North Texas city. In 2019, at least three Black transgender women were killed in Dallas, including Muhlaysia Booker, whose case attracted national attention.
Booker, 23, was badly beaten last April in an incident that was captured on a widely circulated video. She was found shot dead in the street the next month. Two different men were charged in the attacks, which police said at the time appeared not to be connected.