Jones (Via Homicide Watch D.C.)

Police on Friday identified released the identity of a transgender person who was fatally stabbed last week near a Metrobus stop on East Capitol Street NE and also released video from a nearby traffic camera depicting an individual who is being described as a “person of interest.”

The victim was identified as 22-year-old Deoni Jones, the website of the D.C. Trans Coalition reported. Jones, who was known to friends as “Japarker,” was near the Metrobus stop at East Capitol Street and Sycamore Road NE about 8:10 p.m. Thursday when she was stabbed in the cheek. Jones was taken to Prince George’s County Hospital, where she died early Friday morning.

In collecting information on Jones’ death, Homicide Watch D.C. reported that the Metropolitan Police Department retrieved video from a camera on the 4900 block of East Capitol depicting a man crossing the street toward the bus stop.

Police described the individual in the video as a black male between 30 and 40 years old wearing blue jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt and black jacket. Anyone with information on the person of interest is advised to contact detectives investigating Jones’ death via the MPD tip line at (202) 727-9099 or texting to 50411.

As we noted last week, Jones’ death brings up memories of a wave of attacks last year against members of D.C.’s transgender community. Perhaps most jarring was the killing last September of Gaurav Gopalan, an aerospace engineer and theater director. One activist told DCist last week that 61 percent of transgender people experience some kind of violence against them, and in the case of transgender people of color, like Jones, the rate is even higher.