Police in Arlington, Texas have arrested Kia Soloman, the suspect in the 2021 murder of a local black transgender woman.
Arthur Morris Jr., 25, has been charged with aggravated robbery and one count of murder after a four-year investigation, the Arlington Police Department announced. statement Wednesday. Morris is already in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, serving a seven-year prison sentence for an unrelated aggravated robbery conviction.
Solomon, 21, was found dead in front of his apartment in Madrid on September 30, 2021, shot to death by another driver in the driver’s seat of his car with the door open and the engine running. She was taken to the emergency room of a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Solomon lived with his grandmother in Dallas and occasionally visited friends in another building in Arlington. Law enforcement examined her cell phone and found that she had made plans to meet an unidentified person at the complex through an app.
Related: Kia Solomon, Texas black trans woman shot to death in car
Detectives later learned that another incident occurred two weeks before Solomon’s murder. In that case, someone messaged another victim on the same app, asking them to meet at the same location. The suspect, who identified himself as Morris, allegedly brandished a gun, stole items from the victim, and fired shots at the victim’s vehicle.
Investigators received multiple warrants in September 2025 authorizing searches of the accounts. This revealed records of the email address and cell phone number that police said were connected to Morris, as well as his cell phone number before, during and after the murder, when he was at the scene.
Although detectives do not yet have evidence that Morris was allegedly motivated by Solomon’s gender identity, this tragedy is another alarming incident of deadly violence against transgender people in the United States, which particularly affects Black transgender women. Solomon was one of 57 transgender people killed by violence in 2021.
“This investigation truly highlights the tenacity and dedication of our detectives,” said Police Chief Al Jones. “Sometimes we get great results right away in a case, and sometimes we don’t. But what never changes is our commitment to providing justice for crime victims and exhausting every lead to achieve that goal. I am extremely proud of the excellent investigative work that was done to solve this case.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
