On an autumn morning in Kansas City, Missouri, the life of a 30-year-old Black transgender woman, Brianna 'BB' Hill, was tragically cut short. On October 14, 2019, Hill was shot and killed inside a home on Hardesty Avenue. Responding to a 911 call, police arrived to find Hill deceased and the man who had shot her, Allan Robinson, waiting at the scene. Robinson was taken into custody without incident.
The events leading to the fatal shooting began with an argument.
Hill had been staying at a residence with a witness and Robinson. As Robinson was preparing to leave for work, he and the witness asked Hill to leave the house. An argument ensued, during which Hill reportedly became agitated. According to the witness and Robinson, Hill pulled out a can of pepper spray and began spraying it. Robinson, stating he was fearful for himself and the witness, fired what he described as two 'warning shots.' He claimed that when Hill then pepper-sprayed them, he shot at her. Hill was struck by gunfire and collapsed in a bathroom where she was later found dead. Investigators noted it appeared she had been shot twice.
Following an investigation, Allan Robinson, then 60, was charged in January 2020 with one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon. Prosecutors acknowledged that his claim of self-defense was 'clear' in the charging documents. Ultimately, Robinson did not stand trial for murder. Instead, he received a diversion for the gun charge.
Months before her death, Brianna Hill had been the victim of a violent arrest that was captured on video by a bystander. In May 2019, two Kansas City police officers, Matthew Brummett and Charles Prichard, were seen on video slamming her head into the ground and kneeling on her as she cried out in pain. The officers, who are white, were responding to a call to remove Hill from a beauty supply store. They were later charged with third-degree felony assault. In 2022, both former officers pleaded guilty to third-degree assault, were sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation, and had to surrender their peace officers' licenses, preventing them from serving in law enforcement in Missouri again.
