An 18-year-old
found dead inside her Colorado apartment last week may
have been targeted because she was transgender, police said,
according to ABCNews.com.
Born a male,
Justin Zapata identified as female and was known to family
and friends as Angie.
Her body was
found in her apartment in Greeley, Colo., a week ago, with
wounds to the head and face, according to the police report.
"We want the
whole community involved to find this person who hurt my
sister and to let everyone be aware that all she wanted was
to be beautiful," Angie's sister Monica said in the
statement to ABCNews.com. "We want this violence to
end. Transgender people deserve to be treated with
respect."
Greeley police
have not been able to confirm that Zapata was the victim
of a hate crime, but a Colorado antiviolence group and
Zapata's family and friends claim there is enough
evidence to consider it a strong possibility. (The
Advocate)
