The second suspect in an attack on a transgender woman last week admitted to Austin police that he targeted the victim because of her gender identity, according to court papers filed Monday.

Rayshad Deloach, 17, and his brother, Raymond, have both been accused of carjacking and mugging Stephanie Martinez, an Austin transgender activist.

Both face aggravated kidnapping and robbery charges and were in Travis County Jail on Monday, each with a combined bail set at $150,000.

“Rayshad admitted that he attacked Martinez because she was transgender,” police officers wrote in his arrest affidavit.

In his statement to the police, Rayshad Deloach confirmed the details of the Thursday afternoon attack that Martinez relayed to the police, including punching her several times in the face and picking up a log as if to use it to bash her head.

Martinez told police she first met Rayshad — who called himself “Jay” — in an online chat room, where he expressed an interest in learning more about transgender issues. The plan, she said, was to pick him up and to go to a nearby restaurant to talk.

However, after spending a few minutes chatting in her car, she told police Rayshad got out and said he would be right back. When he returned, his brother, Raymond, climbed into the back seat, and told Martinez he had a gun and that she had to drive, she said.

They ended up at the end of a residential street in far Northwest Austin, where the men told Martinez to get out of the car and made her walk behind an apparently abandoned fourplex, where they beat her before stealing her purse and running off.

In Rayshad’s initial account to police, he said met Martinez through an online dating website and attacked Martinez only after discovering she was transgender as they were “hooking up.”

However, that contradicted text messages on Martinez’s phone, which showed Martinez “communicating to Rayshad about being transgender numerous times prior to their meeting.”

Police pressed him on the inconsistency and he eventually admitted to targeting Martinez on the basis of her gender.

Activist for the transgender community Stephanie Martinez was attacked yesterday. She was able to attend the senate hearing on anti-transgender legislation Friday and speak out against SB3 ad SB99. She listens to he Human Rights Campaign, Equality Texas, the ACLU of Texas, the Texas Freedom Network and the Transgender Education Network of Texas gather in the outdoor rotunda of the Texas Capitol extension Friday afternoon to propose anti-transgender legislation bills SB 3 and SB99 at the Texas Capitol July 21, 2017. RALPH BARRERA/AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Ralph Barrera/American-Statesman Staff

Just a day after the attack, Martinez testified before state lawmakers at the Capitol as they debated the so-called bathroom bills, laws that would restrict local governments and school districts from implementing transgender-friendly bathroom policies.

The measure is one of the most contentious being debated during the Legislature’s special session.

“This bill is not about safety, this bill is not about bathrooms,” Martinez told a committee of state senators, which backed the legislation after hours of testimony that went largely against the measure. “This bill is about limiting my ability to navigate public life.”

