Koko Da Doll, the star of ‘Kokomo City’, shot dead
Koko Da Doll, one of the stars of the award-winning documentary Kokomo City, was found fatally shot on Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia, aged 35. The local Police Department reported finding her with a gunshot wound in a southwestern part of the city before 11pm. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Koko – given name Rasheeda Williams – was a prominent transgender woman who featured in Kokomo City, which premiered in January at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The movie marked the directorial debut of Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and producer D. Smith.
A hard-hitting title, it follows the lives of four Black trans sex workers in Atlanta and New City. These are Koko, Daniella Carter, Liyah Mitchell and Dominique Silver, and they confront the split between themselves and the Black community and the daily threat of violence they face.
News of Koko’s death has saddened the filmmaker and cast of Kokomo City, who paid tributes to her on social media.
“Never thought I’d lose you, but here I am standing alone without you by my side,” Carter wrote on her Instagram. “We’re sisters for life we promised, but now you’re gone I don’t know what to do without you. I’m going crazy, I’m trying to hold on to keep strong, but it just doesn’t feel right I’m waiting here my arms wide open, tears running down my face, ready for you to return even if it takes forever my sister. I will truly miss you sis.”
Also taking to Instagram, Silver wrote: “My sister you are gone but you will never be forgotten! I am struggling right now to grasp the fact that we just spoke and now you aren’t here by my side! We will get justice for you and please protect Black trans women at all cost!”
“I’m still in disbelief. U deserved more. I’m sry u were born in a hateful world that didn’t understand you,” Mitchell wrote in one upload to her Instagram story.
In a statement provided to Variety, Smith said: “On Tuesday night, Rasheeda Williams was shot and killed in Atlanta. Rasheeda, aka Koko Da Doll, was the latest victim of violence against Black transgender women. I created ‘Kokomo City’ because I wanted to show the fun, humanized, natural side of Black trans women. I wanted to create images that didn’t show the trauma or the statistics of murder of Transgender lives”.
Continuing: “I wanted to create something fresh and inspiring. I did that. We did that! But here we are again. It’s extremely difficult to process Koko’s passing, but as a team we are more encouraged now than ever to inspire the world with her story. To show how beautiful and full of life she was. She will inspire generations to come and will never be forgotten.”
The Atlanta Police Department issued a press release following Koko’s death, saying it is “investigating three violent crimes involving transgender women this year. While these individual incidents are unrelated, we are very aware of the epidemic-level violence against Black and brown transgender women in America.”
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