Trans Woman Called LAPD for Help but Was Shot and Later Died

Police shot a trans woman at a Pacoima motel last month after she called 911 asking for help, according to a video released by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) last Friday.

Linda Becerra Moran, 30, later died on Feb. 27 after three weeks on life support.

Authorities identified the responsible officer as Jacob Sanchez of Foothill Division. He is on temporary leave while the incident is being investigated by the Force Investigation Division (FID).

During the Feb. 7 call, Becerra Moran sounding distraught, claimed she was being kidnapped and in a motel room on the 10000 block of San Fernando Road in a possible sex trafficking incident. In her conversation with the dispatcher, she is heard saying that a man in the room next door was holding her captive and bringing other men into the room. 

“Are they forcing you to do this?” the dispatcher asked.

“Yes,” Becerra Moran said while sobbing uncontrollably.

LAPD body cam footage from responding officers shows them in the motel room speaking with Becerra Moran and examining the back of her head, where she claimed to have been hit with a bottle multiple times. 

She becomes agitated over time, telling them to leave. The officers withdraw to the doorway and deploy their weapons when Becerra Moran in the back of the room holds a knife to her neck, continuing to tell the officers to leave. 

The situation intensifies with police talking over each other, telling her to calm down and drop the knife.

“No, if you guys were offering to help, I don’t want your help,” she yells at them in Spanish.

As she takes a step closer to the center of the room, Sanchez opens fire, hitting her in the chest. Becerra Moran is seen dropping the knife and collapsing on the motel bed. Although she is unconscious, officers then proceed to flip her over and handcuff her before administering aid. 

LA Fire Department paramedics transported Becerra Moran to a local hospital, where she was treated for a gunshot wound and put on life support until her passing on Feb. 27. 

A kitchen knife was recovered from the scene and Becerra Moran was absentee booked for assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer. 

The San Fernando Valley nonprofit Somos Familia Valle’s Executive Director Kevin Al Perez said LAPD reached out to local LGBTQ+ organizations about the shooting because they were having difficulty identifying kin and other information about Becerra Moran. A meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, March 19, to “hear from the community.”

“It’s ridiculous that they are now, over a month later, trying to contact the family,” said Bamby Salcedo, president and CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition.

After learning about the shooting, Salcedo said they were able to locate Becerra Moran in their database and connect with her family. They are helping support Becerra Moran’s sister with funeral services and connected her with an attorney, Salcedo added. 

“She was one of our sisters,” said Salcedo. “We want to hold LAPD accountable. We want to make sure our local government holds LAPD accountable. We want to make sure that what happened to Linda doesn’t happen to any one of us again.”

Somos Familia Valle and TransLatin@ Coalition are planning a demonstration outside the Foothill Division Police Department on Saturday, March 22, at 1 p.m., said Perez. 

“The murder of Linda Becerra Moran by the Los Angeles Foothill Division Police Department was unwarranted and speaks to the disregard of trans lives but also the lack of de-escalation tactics,” Somos Familia Valle wrote in a statement. “This incident demonstrates that police are not here to protect or serve our community.”

The organizations are demanding justice for Becerra Moran’s death by prosecuting Sanchez for her murder, removing him from his position and preventing him from serving in other departments. Additionally, they are calling for LAPD to restrict the service of officers with a record of excessive use of force, a thorough investigation of LAPD’s use of excessive force, comprehensive training for officers handling mental health crises and for law enforcement to commit to non-violence when managing mental health crises. 

Law enforcement’s response to mental health crisis calls has often caused situations to escalate and lead to violent or deadly outcomes. According to annual use-of-force reports, between 31% of shootings by LAPD involved a person perceived to have a mental illness or be experiencing a mental health crisis. 

Though Becerra Moran expressed the desire to end her life on the phone with the dispatcher, no mental health clinician was sent to the motel with law enforcement.

“She told the EBO [Emergency Broadcast Operations] that she’s thinking about killing herself,” one officer even noted after examining Becerra Moran’s head in the motel room. 

LAPD requires de-escalation training and has increased specialized response teams for certain scenarios, but doesn’t have enough clinician resources to meet the demand. 

Damiana Cano, an organizer at Somos Familia Valle, said that it’s important to be active during these moments, especially given the political climate when trans people are being targeted. 

“This incident just demonstrates to us that the violence is real, and the people who should be protecting us actually ended up killing our loved one,” said Cano. “As a community, we’re not going to tolerate that. We’re going to react to that and honor Linda’s life as best as we can, because we know that she should still be alive, and the violence that she experienced is connected to the violence we’re all experiencing right now as a trans community.”

Salcedo added that she believes what happened to Bacerra Moran is a hate incident. 

“There was no reason to shoot her when there were other preventative measures,” said Salcedo. “This happened because of what is currently happening politically … essentially our government telling the world that trans people do not deserve to live. I believe this is one of the motivations for the officer to shoot Linda without any sense of humanity.

“Trans people deserve to live with dignity,” Salcedo continued. “We have been part of our society for many centuries, and despite the fact that we continue to be hated because we live our truth, we are going to continue to exist and we are going to continue to be part of our society.”