Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

On April 28, 2026, a Trans Latina woman was shot multiple times and left to die on the floor of the silver and gold store she owned in Fort Pierce, Florida. Her name was Lanessa Rodriguez. She was 35.

The Crime

According to WPBF

“Police arrested 20-year-old Landen Ballard, who they say entered the pawn shop, pulled out a gun, and shot the victim multiple times before trying to open the cash register and leaving the scene.

Court records also show Ballard later said, “Is it bad that I have no remorse?”

This week, police announced a second arrest in the case. Tylen Jerome Ryan, 22, of Vero Beach, was arrested on a charge of tampering with evidence.”

Court records revealed that Lanessa had once offered Ballard a job.

Honoring Lanessa

Born in Pembroke Pines, Florida, Lanessa most recently lived in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Some reports say she owned, others says she managed two silver and gold coin exchange shops. She was very proud of her professional accomplishments especially as they had given her a chance to purchase and remodel a house. Apparently, quite recently she planned to move in.

Lanessa mentioned a recent trip to her “ancestral home” of Puerto Rico, a place she spoke about with reverence. It is unclear if she was born in Puerto Rico or had family ties. Lanessa maintained an online presence, but was rather private.

After her most recent birthday, she posted

The years around the sun just keep going by faster, but as long as they’re going by as gracefully as they are now, I’m not complaining! Cheers to this amazing year! I’ve worked so hard to enjoy a birthday like this. I feel like the happiest, luckiest woman in the world! Happy birthday to me! Thank you, God, for such a blessed year!

Her social media feed is filled with fur babies, freshly manicured nails, and fun throwbacks to1990’s culture. The grief of her loved ones reflects on a life well lived and destroyed too soon by outside forces.

Friends describe her as kind, generous, ambitious, hard-working, and so many similar adjectives we attribute to ‘American ideals’ but in spite of all of her accomplishments, she’s still being misgendered and deadnamed in media and on social media. This simply proves that for some Americans, including our federal government and many other elected, there is simply no trans lived experience that is worth protecting.

I believe most of us do not agree. I do not agree.

One friend wrote in a social media post “Lanessa Rodriguez you were taken to soon. 35 is not the age to leave this earth cause someone else wanted to play God and take your life from you.”

Lanessa was shot in her own business by someone she knew who them tried to rob her. This wasn’t a robbery gone bad – he murdered her before trying to steal. This amorality is among the real consequences of dehumanization, isolation, and violence.

Friends organized a beach vigil on May 7. A crowdfund was established to support her family.

No word on final arrangements.

Context

Lanessa is the seventh trans person whose violent death has been reported in the US during 2026. I have no doubt there have been other violent deaths, they are just hidden for reasons I laid out earlier. It is on all of us to honor those who lives were taken in shadows, in silence, and under cover of anti-trans bias.

She is the fifth trans woman, the fourth trans woman of color, and the first Latina trans woman on this list for 2026.

Lanessa is also the second trans person murdered in Florida this year, just one week and 200 miles apart. Their murders were not connected in a serial or spree sense (that we know of).) But two femme trans folx just six years apart in age both shot to death are fused together by the violent anti-trans culture that is growing more belligerent and brazen. Disconnecting Lanessa from Hailey minimizes the pandemic of anti-trans violence hurling through every level of society. Florida is simply one of the most primed examples.

Florida is not a safe place for trans folx. Others lost there include Andrea Doria Dos Passos  and Monique Brooks in 2024; Camdyn Rider, London Price and Alexa Sokova in 2023. Duval Princess,, Nedra Sequence Moss, Semaj Billingslea, and Tiffany Banks were killed in 2022. In 2021, Alexus “Kimmy” Braxton, Keri Washington, Jenny De Leon  and Royal Poetical Starz. Back in 2020, Tony McDade, Bree Black, and Skylar Heath. And in 2019, Bee Love lost her life. In 2018, we reported on the deaths of Celine Walker, Karla Patricia Pavon-Flores, Sasha Garden and Londonn Moore. From 2017, reported on the death of Chay Reed. And ten years ago in 2016, we covered the death of Mercedes Successful and

That’s 27 trans neighbors killed in a ten year period, at least those that have been reported.

Sometimes we see Florida as two different places. One is the Disney, ocean beaches, nice weather vacation spot of American dreams. The other is a fiercely destructive turbulent underbelly that slaughters people, cages people in swamps, and erodes the fundamental supports of working and lower class residents. Disney distracts us from these atrocities and from having to reconcile ourselves to our complicity in these horrors. Imagine if every LGBTQ person and ally who traveled to Florida for recreation also invested in the Florida trans and queer communities? Like a carbon emission tax offset.

This dichotomy is part of the contemporary trans and queer experience as well. Some membersof our community live the Disney life while others struggle in the flip side. That divide is artificial, based mostly on privilege and denial. But heed my word – one day we’ll all be on the flip side.

A few sentences from the shooters’ mother caught my attention. This is also from WPBF

“He was upset, he asked to come stay the night, I’m going to say sure, come stay the night. I didn’t know about anything,” Ballard’s mother said. “I don’t condone my son’s actions whatsoever. We threw him out of the house because of his violent tendencies and the fact that he can’t stop stealing things,” she added. “He didn’t tell me about anything. He didn’t tell me. I’m so sorry for the victim’s family,” she said, sobbing

She didn’t know about anything except that her son was violent and a serial thief. She also feels sorry for Lanessa’s family, but what about Lanessa? I know this may seem cold on my end, but it seems like his mom is centering the family instead of the victim. What’s that about? Is this where he learned how to devalue trans folx?

Then I found out Ballard has a criminal history, including theft and burglary, and arrest records show he was also charged with child abuse without great bodily harm. Police confirmed Ballard is currently on probation for written or electronic threats. This is from CBS 12 News.

He’s 20, violent enough to be thrown out by his family, and has racked up a storied criminal history. That line about the lack of remorse should not be shocking. Again, ongoing efforts to dehumanize, isolate, and violate the trans community make them even more susceptible to predators as young as 20.

Rest in power, Lanessa. You worked hard to build a fulfilling life, surrounded by people who valued you. There is no silver lining. You should be alive. Our entire country experiences great loss with your death and the deaths of other trans neighbors. I am so very sorry we have not built a world that appreciates you for your authentic self.

May your memory be a revolution.

Deaths reported in 2026

These individuals are part of the trans community including transgender, nonbinary, gender nonconforming, and gender creative folx. Please do not share this content without attribution. Thank you

1. Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-Mccray – Petersburg, Virginia. March 13, 2026. Age 42.
2. Davonta Curtis – Chicago, Illinois. April 5, 2026. Age 32.
3. Dannielle Spillman – San Francisco, California. April 16, 2026. Age 74.
4. Aleanna Royal Belcher – Binghamton, New York. April 17, 2026. Age 31.
5. Lucas Redbeard Knapp – Candy Kitchen, Cibola County, New Mexico, April 18, 2026. Age 39.
6. Hailey Singleton – Dunnellton, Florida, May 5, 2026. Age 29.
7. Lanessa Rodriguez – Ft Pierce, Florida, April 28, 2026. Age 35.

Other Deaths

We are following these cases, but cannot confirm the details right now.

1. Daniella Analee Escobedo – Las Vegas, Nevada (unconfirmed), April 12, 2026. Age 34.