In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 Brenda Scurlock is shown in her home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. holding a newspaper clipping about her son's mur...
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 Brenda Scurlock is shown in her home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. holding a newspaper clipping about her son's murder. Scurlock's son Avery Scurlock, who used the name Chanel when dressing as a woman in social settings and hoped to have sex reassignment surgery, was found shot to death in June. This death of a transgender person in North Carolina is one of 18 so far this year, and 17 of the victims have been black women. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 Brenda Scurlock is shown at her home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. Scurlock's son Avery Scurlock, who used the name...
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 Brenda Scurlock is shown at her home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. Scurlock's son Avery Scurlock, who used the name Chanel when dressing as a woman in social settings and hoped to have sex reassignment surgery, was found shot to death in June. This death of a transgender person in North Carolina is one of 18 so far this year, and 17 of the victims have been black women. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 a plaque honoring Brenda Scurlock's son Avery sits in Scurlock's home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. Scurlock's son,...
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 a plaque honoring Brenda Scurlock's son Avery sits in Scurlock's home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. Scurlock's son, who used the name Chanel when dressing as a woman in social settings and hoped to have sex reassignment surgery, was found shot to death in June. This death of a transgender person in North Carolina is one of 18 so far this year, and 17 of the victims have been black women. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, Shania Aguirre, Avery Scurlock's best friend responds during an interview in Lumber Bridge, N.C. Scurlock, ...
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, Shania Aguirre, Avery Scurlock's best friend responds during an interview in Lumber Bridge, N.C. Scurlock, who used the name Chanel when dressing as a woman in social settings and hoped to have sex reassignment surgery, was found shot to death in June. This death of a transgender person in North Carolina is one of 18 so far this year, and 17 of the victims have been black women. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, a framed copy of Avery Scurlock's memorial is shown in Avery's mother Brenda Scurlock's home in Lumber Brid...
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, a framed copy of Avery Scurlock's memorial is shown in Avery's mother Brenda Scurlock's home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. Avery, who used the name Chanel when dressing as a woman in social settings and hoped to have sex reassignment surgery, was found shot to death in June. This death of a transgender person in North Carolina is one of 18 so far this year, and 17 of the victims have been black women. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, Brenda Scurlock is shown in her home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. holding a newspaper clipping about her son's mu...
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, Brenda Scurlock is shown in her home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. holding a newspaper clipping about her son's murder. Scurlock's son Avery Scurlock, who used the name Chanel when dressing as a woman in social settings and hoped to have sex reassignment surgery, was found shot to death in June. This death of a transgender person in North Carolina is one of 18 so far this year, and 17 of the victims have been black women. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 Brenda Scurlock is shown in her home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. holding her phone showing the last texts she rec...
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 Brenda Scurlock is shown in her home in Lumber Bridge, N.C. holding her phone showing the last texts she received from her son Avery just before he was murdered. Scurlock's son, who used the name Chanel when dressing as a woman in social settings and hoped to have sex reassignment surgery, was found shot to death in June. This death of a transgender person in North Carolina is one of 18 so far this year, and 17 of the victims have been black women. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
LUMBER BRIDGE, N.C. (AP) — A slaying in eastern North Carolina this summer left another victim in a deadly year for transgender people.
The Human Rights Campaign says 23-year-old Avery Scurlock of Lumber Bridge was one of 18 transgender people killed in the U.S. so far this year. Seventeen were black transgender women like Avery. Friends and family in Robeson County accepted Avery as a transgender woman named Chanel, but still called him Avery and used male pronouns unless he was dressed as a woman in public.
They say Avery was meeting a man he met on a dating website when he was shot eight times in early June. A 20-year-old man is charged with murder in the death.
The campaign says black transgender women have also been killed this year in 10 other states.
