Ukea Davis

Ukea Davis (November 16, 1983 - August 12, 2002) and Stephanie Thomas (November 15, 1982 - August
12, 2002) were young, African American transgender women who were shot to death in Southeast D.C. by
unknown assailants, on August 12, 2002.
Davis, 19, and Thomas,18, met one another four years prior to their murder, as members of the Sexual
Minority Youth Action League in Washington, D.C., while both were transitioning to living as women.
Davis was raised by a godmother who objected to her emerging gender identity.Davis identified as
transgender at age 15
According to family members, prior to their transitions to living as women full-time, both Davis and
Thomas were regularly beaten up and harassed by people who thought they were gay.
Both dropped out of school due to harassment.
On the night of August 12, 2002, Davis and Thomas were visiting friends in a nearby apartment when
they announced that they were going out to buy cigarettes.They left the apartment at about 11:30
p.m. That was the last time they were seen until 3:00 a.m.At 3:25 a.m., Davis and Thomas were
sitting in Thomas' Toyota Tercell at the corner of 50th and C Streets SE, less than a block from
their apartment.
According to police sources, a black vehicle pulled up beside Thomas' car. An occupant of the
vehicle fired on Davis and Thomas with a semiautomatic weapon. Then the black vehicle drove away.
Another car approached, and a man got out to see what had happened. Davis appeared already dead, but
Thomas moaned in response when the stranger nudged her to see if she was alive. The man fled when
the black vehicle returned. The gunman got out of the vehicle and shot Thomas again before driving
away.
Thomas and Davis were each shot 10 times in the head and upper body. By the time medical rescue
workers arrived at the corner of 50th and C streets SE, both Davis and Thomas were dead. They died
at the same corner where Tyra Hunter, an African American transgender woman, lay dying five days and
seven years earlier as fire department medical technicians laughed and withdrew emergency care upon
discovering Hunter was transgender.
The same fire company that responded to Hunter's accident seven years earlier, Engine Company 30,
also came the scene of Thomas' and Davis' murder. According to witnesses at the scene, Thomas' and
Davis' bodies were dragged from Thomas' car, and Thomas' body was dropped face first on the ground.
A firefighter later turned Thomas bleeding body over with his foot.
To date, no arrests have been made in the case, and the murders of Davis and Thomas have not been
classified as hate crimes.