According to witnesses, a group of men had been “hollering” at women from their spot on a sidewalk in Northeast Washington into the early hours of a Saturday morning in July.

It ended with trans woman Daquane “Dream” Johnson shot dead in the chest. 

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A man shot a trans woman dead in the street. Her family thinks it’s a hate crime.

Edgar Arrington, 38, was arrested in North Carolina last week in connection with the killing of Johnson, 28, known by family and friends as Dream.

Arrington didn’t know Johnson, but ridiculed her for being transgender before pulling a gun on her and shooting her repeatedly, prosecutors allege.

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“My baby was a vibrant person,” Johnson’s mother, Iris Terrell, told the Washington Post on Thursday. “She just wanted to be accepted for who she was.”

Prosecutors said five witnesses, two anonymous tipsters, and surveillance footage helped investigators piece together the case against Arrington.

One witness told investigators the shooter had tried to “holler” at Johnson when she approached, then became enraged when learning she was transgender, court records show. Another said someone in the group told Johnson, “No disrespect, but you are a male,” just before her death.

Several witnesses heard homophobic slurs hurled at the victim.

Two women alerted a police officer parked close to the scene that a body was on the ground in front of a market early on Saturday, July 5. An autopsy revealed she’d been shot four times in the chest.

Johnson’s mother said her firstborn had been walking home after spending time with friends.

The group of men had been trying to talk to women on the block all night, according to one witness, but the scene changed when Johnson approached. Another witness said he told the group that she was transgender, “so that the guys would not try to talk” to her, court records show.

But when Johnson walked past, the witness told police that one of the group began to hurl slurs at Johnson, and repeatedly said, “that’s a boy” and “you a boy.”

Johnson continued walking, but something one of the men said inspired her to turn around and confront the group.

“Who are you talking to?” the witness remembered Johnson saying. “I don’t know you.”

Johnson reportedly grew angry, and an argument ensued with two of the men.

Surveillance video captured that moment before one of the men pulled a gun on the victim.

Shown a picture of Arrington by the police, the witness identified him as the shooter.

U.S. Marshals arrested Arrington at a family member’s home in Rowan County, North Carolina, last Friday.

Yesterday, Arrington appeared in D.C. Superior Court, where a judge found probable cause that he committed first-degree murder while armed, with a hate crime enhancement. He’ll be held without bail until his next court appearance on October 7.

“He killed her because of what she was and who she was,” Johnson’s mother said.  

Terrell said losing the oldest of her six children has “shattered” her.

She had Johnson when she was 14, and said in many ways, they grew up together. Her mother remembered Daquan as joyful.

“She was one of a kind, and I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Terrell said.

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