A Texas man has been charged with multiple felonies and federal hate crime charges after being identified in a series of attacks on transgender women in Houston in 2022.
Salif Ali Mohamed Alhemud, 30, was accused of kidnapping and kidnapping two trans women he met through Grindr during a crime spree in the summer of 2022, according to an FBI complaint filed in the Southern District of Texas. He was charged with six felonies related to the assault. through houston chronicle.
One woman told police that after connecting with Alhemoud on a dating app, he invited her to his home, only for him to pull out a gun and demand money. When she said she didn’t have any cash, he used a gun to beat her and told her that she was “a devil just like everyone else, just like transgender people.” threatened to kill him.
The woman fled the apartment and called the police, who were able to use her cell phone’s “Find My iPhone” feature to track Alhemoud, who had taken her wallet. Police found Alhemoud at his home and urged other victims to come forward.
Two other victims said Alhemoud contacted one of them on Instagram, invited them to his shared apartment, and upon arrival called them slurs and threatened them with a pistol. Another group, including two trans women and a gay man, told police they were in Alhemoud’s apartment when he threatened to kill them and robbed them.
Alhemoud was eventually taken into custody shortly after the gang robbery, during which he threatened two drivers with a pistol after they honked their horns, leading to a high-speed chase with police and a crash. In addition to federal hate crime charges, he was also charged with aggravated assault and robbery.
According to a report, hate crimes against transgender people have increased significantly in Texas. report from LGBTQTexas Republican lawmakers introduced a record 141 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community in 2023 alone This year, Texas Republican lawmakers announced that the number of cases had doubled between 2019 and 2023 First, we reported to organizations within the state.
Alhemoud’s latest charges are in addition to those he faced in 2022. Alhemoud has been in custody since his arrest and is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
