Killing of Nina Pop

In May 2020, a young transgender woman of color named Nina Pop was stabbed to death in her own Missouri apartment.

The Human Rights Campaign stated that her death is at least the 10th violent death of an American transgender person or gender non-conforming person in 2020.

Nina Pop
Pop was a black transgender woman. She lived 145 miles south of St. Louis in Sikeston, Missouri, a small town of 16,000 people.

Killing
On May 3, 2020, a 28-year-old black transgender woman named Nina Pop was found dead with multiple stab wounds after being stabbed with a knife inside her own apartment on South New Madrid Street in Sikeston, Missouri.

Aftermath
On May 15, 2020 in Dexter, Missouri, Joseph B. Cannon from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was accused of Pop's murder and arrested for second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He pleaded not guilty, requested a public defender, and awaits trial. 11 crime labs, anti-violence organizations, and police departments contributed to the investigation. Pop's death was being investigated as a potential hate crime.

Sikeston Department of Public Safety and a local TV network initially misgendered Pop during their investigation and reporting, respectively.

Community response
The Okra Project, a grassroots organization initially focused on addressing food insecurity in the black transgender community, dedicated $15,000 to form the Nina Pop Mental Health Recovery Fund and the Tony McDade Mental Health Recovery Fund in to raise money for free one-time mental health therapy sessions for black transgender individuals.

On June 2, 2020, thousands of people came together for a vigil and protest at the Stonewall Inn in New York City to honor the lives of Nina Pop and Tony McDade and protest police violence and transphobic violence against the black transgender community.