On June 3, 2023, my neighbor broke my front window with the butt of an AK-47, and I ran for my life. As I left my back door and ran across my backyard, my neighbor began firing at me from my driveway — his bullets passed through a trailer parked in the driveway, a fence, a shed and my neighbor’s fence. I can only imagine what those bullets would have done to my body.
I’m Black, trans and queer — and while we think this might have been a motivating factor, the chance of this being considered a hate crime is low. Gun violence is so common in Albuquerque that my story isn’t newsworthy; I lived to tell the tale, and it was a one-on-one act.
This Pride month I’ll be fighting against assault weapons and for the rights of my queer and trans community to live safely.