Man Stabs Transgender Teen After Stealing Her Phone
Lawyer wants the District Attorney to pursue hate crime charges against the man accused of stabbing the Houston teen.
Joseph Fuerborn has been charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon for attacking Rue, an 18-year-old transgender high school student, after she let him borrow her cell phone to make a call.
The two had been riding METRO bus in Houston, Texas, and both exited the bus at the same stop at around 8:40 p.m. on December 22. According to Rue’s lawyer, Kevin Murray, Rue let Fuerborn borrow her phone, but when he finished the call, he refused to give it back to her, and instead stabbed her. One of the stabs punctured Rue’s lungs.
“She didn’t do anything in any way to have this attacker violate her person and stab her three times,” Murray told Houston CBS affiliate KHOU.
Police arrived on the scene in response to a report of a stabbing. Paramedics transported Rue to a local hospital in critical condition, where she underwent surgery and was treated for her injuries. She spent several days, including Christmas, in the hospital.
“I thought my life was going to end before I ever got a chance to get started,” Rue told KHOU.
Police received a description of Fuerborn and, with the help of a K-9 unit and a helicopter, were able to track him down arrest him. According to police, the suspect was still in possession of the knife used in the stabbing.
Fuerborn was linked to an robbery that happened around 6:30 p.m. earlier that night, in which he allegedly robbed another person at gunpoint. The gun from that incident has not yet been found.
Murray said he doesn’t believe the current charge against Fuerborn is sufficient, given how serious the injuries to Rue were. He said he hopes to see additional charges, including hate crime enhancements, filed against Fuerborn.
According to OutSmart magazine, it will be up to newly-elected Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare (D) to determine whether there is enough evidence to support a hate crime charge by proving that the stabbing was motivated by anti-transgender animus.
Austin Ruiz, the president of the Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus, noted that violence directed against transgender individuals is on the rise, coinciding with a rise in anti-transgender sentiment and an increase in incendiary political rhetoric.
“I’m very thankful that Rue is still here with us today,” Ruiz told the magazine. “Unfortunately, violence like this is something we see all too commonly.”
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