Texas Man Charged With Federal Hate Crime For Pistol-Whipping Transgender Date

A man in Houston, Texas, was charged with a federal hate crime for brutally beating a transgender woman he met on the LGBTQ + dating app, Grindr.

The act was motivated by the victim's gender identity and sexual orientation, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release Thursday, according to KHOU-TV. Prosecutors have charged the accused Salih Alhemoud, 28, with a hate crime, kidnapping, and possessing a firearm while committing the violent crime, Click2Houston reported.

The incident occurred when Alhemoud met the victim at her apartment on Aug. 29. He allegedly tried to rob her at gunpoint, and when the woman failed to give him any money, he stomped her on the face and chest before hitting her with his pistol, KHOU-TV reported.

The man allegedly called the victim several transgender and homophobic slurs, and told her that she was going to die, making statements like "my religion considers you a demon," and that she "was a demon like the others, all you trans people."

Alhemoud is then said to have taken the victim's purse and fled the apartment and driven off in a red car, as reported by Click2Houston at the time. The victim, who had sustained a swollen eye and injuries on her arms and chest, ran out of the apartment and begged for help.

The accused was arrested after the vehicle he escaped in was tracked to another apartment complex. Alhemoud is currently being held in Harris County Jail. His bond is set at $100,000.

"I'm scared. I can't believe people like that exist in the world," the victim told cops. "He's dangerous to other trans and other people you never know."

Police said days after the attack, Alhemoud was facing charges for an unrelated incident where he threatened two people with a gun during a road rage accident.

A trial is pending and the anticipated date has not been released. If convicted of all the charges, Alhemoud could face life in prison.

The transgender community is found to be disproportionately affected by hate crimes, especially violent ones. In an incident that was reported in downtown Portland, Oregon, a transgender woman was brutally thrashed and hurled homophobic and transphobic slurs while she was out with her two friends in June 2019. After verbally abusing the victim, identified as Atlas Marshall, the attackers pinned her to the ground and beat her up. A man who tried to intervene and rescue Marshall was also assaulted and left with a broken nose and a black eye.