$50K Reward Offered in Aniya Parker Slaying

By Jamilah King Oct 10, 2014

It’s been just over a week since Aniya "Ballie" Parker, a 47-year-old transgender woman, was brutaly killed in East Hollywood. The Los Angeles City Council will announce on Friday during a press conference that police and community leaders are now offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for her death, according to KTLA.

Based on a surveillance footage of the murder from a nearby business, Parker was approached by a group of two to three suspects last Thursday at 2:30 a.m. The suspects are described as men in their 20s, and after what appears to be a brief alteraction, one suspect shoots Parker in the head as she tries to run away from the group. Parker was later pronounced dead at L.A. County-USC Medical Center.

Family and friends have launched a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Parker’s funeral expenses, describing her as a woman with "a heart of gold." 

Parker is the eighth transgender woman of color to be killed in the U.S. this year, and the second to die violently in Los Angeles since June.