An arrest has been made in connection to the fatal shooting of Koko Da Doll, star of the hit Sundance documentary Kokomo City.
Atlanta police announced Thursday that a 17-year-old was taken into custody on April 26 and is being held at Fulton County Jail. The teen apparently turned himself in after “Atlanta police homicide detectives were able to establish probable cause and secure arrest warrants for murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony,” the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement on Thursday.
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The arrest and charges now facing the 17-year-old teen follow an investigation after Atlanta police officers on April 18 responded to reports of a late night shooting on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and found a woman who had been shot and pronounced deceased at the crime scene.
Police did not identify the victim by name, but Kokomo City director D. Smith in an Instagram post called Koko Da Doll, whose given name is Rasheeda Williams, “the latest victim of violence against Black transgender women.”
Representatives for Cinetic Media and Magnolia Pictures, which acquired Kokomo City after its Sundance bow, referred The Hollywood Reporter to Smith’s Instagram post and added they had no additional details.
Koko Da Doll was one of four Black transgender sex workers, including Daniella Carter, Dominique Silver and Liyah Mitchell, featured in Smith’s documentary. The feature followed each of their experiences living in New York and Atlanta, while exploring the division between the Black community and themselves, as well as the threats they face every day.
The film won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival in January, including the NEXT Audience Award and NEXT Innovator Award. In her review of the doc, THR critic Lovia Gyarkye wrote, “Violence — both real and anticipated — is the most obvious thematic thread, but competing for space and attention is beauty.”
