Two Texas trans women were kidnapped and assaulted. Their accused attacker faces six felonies

mugshot Salih Alhemoud Houston texas over police cars crime scene

mugshot via FBI Houston; background via shutterstock

Salih Ali Mohammed Alhemoud, 30, was indicted Wednesday on six felony charges related to the kidnapping and assault of two trans women he met through Grindr.

A man in Texas has been indicted on several felonies and federal hate crime charges after being identified in a 2022 string of attacks on transgender women in Houston, Texas.

Salih Ali Mohammed Alhemoud, 30, was indicted Wednesday on six felony charges related to the kidnapping and assault of 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 via the Houston Chronicle.

One woman told law enforcement that she invited Alhemoud to her home after connecting with him on the dating app only for him to take out a pistol and demand money. When she told him she did not have any cash, he used the gun to hit her and threatened to kill her, saying she was "a demon like all the others, all you trans people."

After the woman escaped her apartment and contact law enforcement, she was able to use the "Find my iPhone" feature on her phone to track Alhemoud, who had taken her purse. Officers located Alhemoud at his home, prompting other victims to come forward.

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Two other victims said that they invited Alhemoud to their shared apartment after he contacted one of them on Instagram, and that he threatened them with a pistol after arriving while calling them slurs. A separate group consisting of two trans women and a gay man told police that they were in an apartment with Alhemoud when he threatened to kill them and then robbed them.

Alhemoud was finally detained shortly after robbing the group during a road-rage incident in which he threatened two drivers with his pistol after they honked at him, leading to a high-speed chase with police that resulted in him crashing. He was charged with aggravated assault and robbery in addition to federal hate crime charges.

Hate crimes against transgender people have drastically increased in Texas, according to a report from LGBTQ+ groups in the state earlier this year, which found that the number of cases doubled between 2019 and 2023, when Texas Republican lawmakers filed a record 141 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community in just 2023 alone.

Alhemoud's latest charges are on top of those he received in 2022. He has been in custody since his arrest and will be arraigned Tuesday.