In the early morning hours of a Monday in West Philadelphia, the life of a 29-year-old Black transgender woman named Tracy 'Mia' Green was tragically cut short. On September 28, 2020, what began as a routine traffic stop unfolded into a homicide investigation. Police pulled over a Jeep Wrangler after the driver ran a stop sign at the intersection of 41st Street and Westminster Avenue.
The man behind the wheel, 28-year-old Abdullah lbn El-Amin Jaamia, immediately informed the officers that his passenger had been shot.
Inside the vehicle, officers found Mia Green in the front passenger seat, suffering from a gunshot wound to her neck. She was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, but her injuries were too severe, and she was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival. The initial traffic stop quickly escalated into a murder investigation with Jaamia as the prime suspect. He was taken into custody and what was later described as a long, intimate relationship would come to a violent and public end.
An investigation revealed that shortly before the traffic stop, Jaamia and Green had been involved in an argument. During the dispute, Jaamia grabbed a gun that was reportedly kept between the driver's seat and the center console and fired three times. Green was struck in the back of her neck and her left arm, with another bullet grazing her side. In the face of questioning, Jaamia confessed to shooting Green.
Abdullah lbn El-Amin Jaamia was subsequently arrested and charged with murder and other related offenses. His case went to trial, and in August 2022, a jury found him guilty of third-degree murder and possession of an instrument of crime for the shooting death of Mia Green. The conviction brought a measure of justice for a life taken too soon, a death that sent ripples of grief and anger through Philadelphia's LGBTQ+ community and highlighted the ongoing epidemic of violence against transgender individuals, particularly transgender women of color.
