MINNEAPOLIS — As a transgender woman continues her recovery from a brutal assault and robbery at a Minneapolis light rail station last month, an ongoing investigation looks to determine if the attack was a hate crime — and motive can be a challenging thing for prosecutors to prove.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the victim was initially hospitalized in critical condition but has since been released. More than 200 people who rallied at the light rail station in support of a stranger identified only by her initials in charges against the two suspects. Her identity as a trans woman remains key in the investigation to see if that's why men attacked her the morning of Feb. 27.
Moriarty said the Metro Transit video surveillance that captured the attack was terrible to watch. Words were exchanged between the woman and the suspects, though audio isn't clear enough at this point to know if they hurled anti-trans remarks. If so, that could prove bias and charges would be amended to reflect that.
