Transgender activists protest slaying

Dozens of activists in Los Angeles held a protest rally Friday evening in response to a fatal stabbing in Fresno of a victim they described as a transgender woman.

Fresno police are investigating the fatal stabbing of K.C. Haggard, 66, but said they had no proof so far that the slaying was a hate crime, as some activists have alleged.

Surveillance cameras captured the moment when Haggard was attacked about 2 a.m. Thursday. The videotape shows Haggard beckoned by someone in a sport utility vehicle and then stabbed in the neck through the vehicle’s window.

After the vehicle sped off, the victim tried to hail other passing cars, then collapsed.

Lt. Joe Gomez, a spokesman for the Fresno Police Department, said that despite the public showing of the video online and on television, no suspects have been identified and no arrests have been made in the attack.

He said Haggard was wearing women’s clothing but was identified as a male in the coroner’s report. Gomez said police investigators have no information on whether Haggard was targeted for being transgender.

About 100 activists rallied outside the Metro subway station at Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue to highlight the attack and violence against transgender people around the country.

“We want to bring awareness and show our discontent with this violence,” said Bamby Salcedo, president of the TransLatin@ Coalition.