Muhlaysia Booker Attack Suspect Arrested, Transgender Woman Thanks Supporters

UPDATE: 2:30 a.m. EDT - The man suspected of brutally attacking Muhlaysia Booker, a transgender woman, in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, was arrested by the police Sunday. The 29-year-old suspect, identified as Edward Thomas, was arrested about 9:30 p.m. local time [10:30 p.m. EDT] in connection with "his role in the aggravated assault" and charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. He was booked into the Dallas County Jail and bail was yet to be set.

Original story:

A transgender woman was the victim of an angry mob attack Friday, in Dallas, Texas. The video of the attack was uploaded on Facebook and has since gone viral.

“On April 12, 2019 at about 11:23 p.m. [12:23 a.m. EDT Saturday], officers responded to an injured person call at a Dallas area hospital. Upon arrival, officers spoke with the victim, a Transgender female, who had been assaulted by known suspects,” the Dallas police department said in a press release, Saturday.

The victim, Muhlaysia Booker, was seen in the video wearing a pink wig, addressing the crowd, standing in the middle of an intersection shortly before the attack. Booker was surrounded by a big crowd, as she walked around the area. The camera soon cut to the moment an African-American man in white shirt and shorts threw her to the ground and started punching and beating her.

Soon, other men joined in and continued to kick her as she screamed in pain. As Booker tried to shield her face from getting hurt, the first attacker dragged her by her clothes to a different part of the road and kept on hitting her. Meanwhile, women around the area begged the man to stop attacking the victim. After the man and the rest of the mob stopped attacking the woman, she was carried by others to a car parked near the area.

The press release further stated that Booker told the police the attackers were using homophobic slurs. “The Department is investigating this offense and reviewing all available evidence to determine if it will be classified as a hate crime,” the release said.

The video was uploaded by a social media user named Taj Mahal.

Booker also told officers she was involved in a minor traffic accident prior to the attack. “The guy just got out and started stomping on her and kicking her and fighting her,” the Booker’s grandmother told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. “I was like, ‘Over a car?’”

"All I tell them you know is I love them. I love them for whoever they are. And I'm not God, I'm not the judge, I'm not the jury. So all I pray is for these people to find it in their hearts to accept people just like God does,” she added.

Booker sustained facial fractures in the attack and had her right arm in a sling.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings condemned the attack in a Facebook post. “Chief Hall alerted me this morning to the assault at the Royal Crest Apartments and I have seen a video of what happened. I am extremely angry about what appears to be mob violence against this woman… Those who did this do not represent how Dallasites feel about our thriving LGBTQ community. We will not stand for this kind of behavior,” he wrote.

Booker thanked her supporters on Facebook: “I LOVE YALL SOOO MUCH THANK YOU SO MUCH ITS A BLESSING BEING LUCKY ENOUGH TO WITNESS THE LOVE AND RESPECT IM GETTING AND THANK YOU TO ALL MY GENUINE FRIENDS THAT BEEN WITH ME THROUGH THIS JOURNEY AND KNOWING THE REAL ME KNOWING NOBODY DESERVES THAT I APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH BUT JUST WAIT ON IT.”