Suspect Arrested in Fla. Trans Murder Case

A man suspected of shooting and robbing several transgender and cross-dressing sex workers in Riviera Beach, Fla., has been arrested. According to Florida TV station WPBF, Luis De Los Santos is accused of the March 24 double shooting that killed one person, 23-year-old Tyrell Jackson, and injured another, 20-year-old Michael Hunter.

After the fatal shooting — one in a string of robberies targeting trans and cross-dressing sex workers — Riviera Beach police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown said, “This suspect has targeted young men who are living a life as transsexual prostitutes.”

Whether Jackson was trans is not clear, though his sister Takesia Jackson told local reporters that her brother was gay.

De Los Santos was pulled over for a routine traffic stop last Thursday, and police noticed he was driving the same type of vehicle the killer had been driving: a 2003 silver Buick Rendezvous.

"When someone has put it in their mind to perhaps target individuals because of the way that they live their lifestyle, not only is that interfering with their safety, that's interfering with their personal freedoms," Riviera Beach police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown told WPBF.