Mya Shawatza Hall

On a Monday morning in late March of 2015, a series of events culminated in the death of 27-year-old Mya Shawatza Hall, a transgender woman. The day began with Hall and a friend, Brittany Fleming, in a stolen Ford SUV. Earlier that morning, a 60-year-old man had reported his vehicle stolen from a motel in Elkridge, Maryland, after he had picked up two individuals, later identified as Hall and Fleming, in Baltimore.

The pair took a wrong turn onto a restricted exit leading to the National ...