A man has been arrested in connection with the beating death of a homeless transgender woman while sleeping outside of the Miami City Ballet building.
Gregory Gibert, 53, faces a second-degree murder charge and is being accused of beating her with a metal pipe.
A security guard found someone they thought was sleeping near the entrance around 6:45 a.m. Tuesday. When he tried to wake her, she was unresponsive and he saw the blood around her.
The victim was identified as 37-year-old Andrea Dos Passos. She had massive trauma to her face and head, WPLG-TV reported.
"The male is then seen standing over her, striking her, and then manipulating her body. The male then walks away and places the pipe inside a nearby trashcan," according to the arrest report.
Police noted that in addition to trauma on her face and head, two wooden sticks were lodged in her nostrils and there was a puncture wound in her chest.
"She had no chance to defend herself whatsoever, her stepfather Victor Van Gilst. told WFOR-TV. "I don't know if this was a hate crime since she was transgender or if she had some sort of interaction with this person because he might have been homeless as well."
Police say when they found Gibert he was wearing the same "unique" basketball shoes seen in the surveillance video.
He is a "habitual violent felony offender" who had been released from prison just days before the brutal attack, according to records viewed by the Miami New Times.
Gibert was in prison on past aggravated assault and robbery charges until 6 days before Dos Passos was murdered.
