Amna Nawaz:

Judy, the most recent killing took place last Sunday in north Philadelphia.

Michelle "Tamika" Washington, 40 years old and a longtime advocate for the LGBTQ community, was shot several times. Her death came one day after Muhlaysia Booker was found dead in Dallas. Booker was just 23, and just weeks before her death, she was attacked in a mob-like beating after a minor traffic accident.

One week before those murders, 21-year-old Claire Legato was shot in the head in Cleveland. She was killed after an argument between her mother and the suspected shooter.

Earlier this year, two more black transgender women, Ashanti Carmon and Dana Martin, were also killed. Last year, more than two dozen transgender people were killed. And according to a 2018 Human Rights Campaign report, there were at least 128 trans people killed in 32 states since 2013; 80 percent of them were people of color.

Let's now take a closer look at this now with Beverly Tillery. She's executive director of the Anti-Violence Project, an LGBTQ anti-violence organization.

Beverly, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thank you for being with us.

I want to start by asking you about this recent state of killings. They happened across the country. The circumstances are all very different in each case. Do you know or believe that these women were targeted because they were transgender?