Far-left activist accuses conservatives of ‘violence’ for referring to cross-dressing, BLM-supporting Philly mass shooting suspect as ‘trans’

In the wake of a mass shooting in Philadelphia which claimed the lives of 5 adults, injuring 2 children, far-left activists held a press conference to, in part, correct the media narrative on the alleged shooter's identity. 

"I want to discuss, very briefly because there is a nasty, violent– in terms of verbal and written words– spewed by the conservative press regarding the shooter," the activist said.

"There certain pictures that are circulating–some of you may are be aware of those pictures–have the shooter in one pitcher as male and other pictures dressed in female attire or female outfits. They have used those pictures to attack trans people in particularly trans women of color, which are extremely vulnerable to violence in our community," he continued.

"I want to set the record straight," he continued, "because language is extremely important when we're talking about anything dealing with violence and [the] trans community. The suspect or the shooter has not identified themselves as trans. They have only identified themselves as male. And that's the language that will be used until further developments if they change that type of language.

"But the language that is spewed out by the conservative press is violent and is dangerous and is targeting trans women of color. It's rallying the community to be violent. And we're better than that. We're better than that. We have our trans women and our trans men living in these communities working thriving in the communities. They are not killers, they are the most vulnerable to violence. They want to live their lives, and they have every right to do so. And we will not allow conservative bigots to use that type of language to attack trans [people]," he said, in footage shared by Julio Rosas.

Kimbrady Watson Carriker, a 40-year-old male who is expressed support for the BLM movement on his Facebook page, was arrested on Monday evening after allegedly shooting and killing five people and injuring two children in the Kingsessing neighborhood. Police said they apprehended a male suspect who was wearing a ballistic vest.

Additional photos show Carriker wearing female clothes, though the Facebook page does not indicate that the suspect personally identified as transgender. 

The alleged mass shooter accused of the killings has been described by his grandmother a "respectful young man." Carriker's grandmother, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke to Fox 29 and said that she was left "shocked" by the news.

"Was he angry about anything? Did he express that he was upset about anything?" Fox 29 reporter Kelly Rule asked her.

"No, no," she said, "I haven't seen him for two months and that was unusual." She told the network Carriker owned a firearm, but she never saw him with one in-person. "He said everybody should have one. I said, ‘No, not in my house.’ I never seen the gun he had. He just told me he had it."

A neighbor that had only recently met Carriker last week told Fox 29 that Carriker told them he was the "town watchman."
 

"Brought him to my crib, I met him, but he looked like he was fine. Wasn’t nothing wrong with him. Completely normal. He told me he was a town watchman around here. You know, yeah, he said he was a town watchman. I was like, ‘Alright,'" the neighbor said.

Police said that Carriker was wearing a ski mask and bulletbproof vest at the time of his arrest. He was armed with an AR-style rifle and handgun. Carriker was not licensed to carry.

According to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, authorities recovered a handwritten will dated June 23 at Carriker’s home. His housemates told the DA's office that Carriker would wear the vest around the house, and they noted he was becoming increasingly more agitated in recent weeks.