A trans woman who called 911 for help last month, saying she was kidnapped, has died from the gunshot wound she sustained from a responding Los Angeles police officer.
Linda Becerra Moran, 30, who the Los Angeles Times reported was possibly a victim of sex trafficking, called authorities on the morning of Feb. 7 and said she was being held at a motel by a man in a different room.
In a video announcement on Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department released a portion of the 911 call from Becerra Moran. In it, she can be heard telling the operator in a distressed voice that her captor was bringing other men into the room. Police body camera footage shows officers arriving at the motel room, where Becerra Moran tells them she was hit in the head multiple times with a bottle.
In the video, police check her head for wounds, asking her about her mental state and why dispatchers told officers that she wanted to harm herself. The officers speak in a terse tone and sometimes interrupt her as she appears to grow increasingly upset.
A second segment of body cam footage shows Becerra Moran becoming increasingly agitated, crying and yelling at the officers in Spanish to leave. She then asks them not to touch her.
“Just tell her to calm down,” a voice identified as belonging to a police supervisor tells the other officers.
Becerra Moran continues to yell at the group of officers in Spanish to leave, before pulling a knife from the kitchen and holding it against her neck. Officers tell Becerra Moran to drop the knife, but she walks forward, holding it against her neck.
As she walks towards an officer who is across the room, the officer shoots her, causing her to fall on the bed. She is then placed in handcuffs.
She was then taken to a hospital to have her wound treated, according to the video announcement.
Becerra Moran was initially charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer. She died of the gunshot wound she received from the officer on Feb. 27, police said. The officer’s actions are under investigation, according to authorities.
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Becerra Moran’s death came after weeks spent on life support, Soma Snakeoil, executive director of the nonprofit Sidewalk Project, told the Los Angeles Times. Medical staff were unable to contact her family in Ecuador.
Snakeoil said she met Becerra Moran in 2023, when she was fleeing sexual violence and living on the street, and helped her find temporary housing.
She added to the Times, “This has such chilling connotations for survivors in L.A. — if they’re afraid to call 911, if they’re afraid that police are going to shoot them when they call 911.”