London Kiki Chanel, a 21-year-old transgender woman, was stabbed to death in North Philadelphia early Monday, the police department told BuzzFeed News.



Raheam Felton, 31, "confessed to the murder" and is in custody, said Cameron Kline, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Felton, who allegedly stabbed Chanel multiple times, is charged with possession of an instrument of crime and murder. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on June 3 but does not yet have a lawyer, Kline told BuzzFeed News.

Authorities have not released charging documents or many details about the homicide, nor have they alleged a motive for the killing.

Chanel is the eighth transgender woman of color confirmed killed in the United States this year — a trend that anti-violence advocates have called an epidemic. And as in many of the cases, Chanel was misgendered in early reports.

“There has been an immediate outcry from the community who knew her,” said Nellie Fitzpatrick, director of the Mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia. “I was receiving reports from the community that the deceased was transgender and needed to be referred to appropriately as a woman with female pronouns.”