DETROIT – The man accused of shooting a transgender woman at a gas station on Detroit's west side last month will stand trial for ethnic intimidation and other crimes, officials announced.
Deonton A. Rogers, 29, is accused of approaching the woman and making a crude remark inside the Mobil gas station at West Seven Mile and Greenfield roads on July 23 in Detroit. Officials believe the incident began outside the gas station and continued inside.
Judge William McConico of the Michigan 36th District Court bound Rogers over for trial Wednesday.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Rogers with discharging a firearm in a building causing serious injury, discharging a firearm in a building causing serious impairment of a bodily function, felonious assault, felon in possession of a firearm, fourth-degree child abuse, ethnic intimidation based on gender and a felony firearms violation.
Rogers was bound over on all counts.
"The Ethnic Intimidation Act -- Michigan’s hate-crime law -- penalizes hate crimes committed because of a victim’s gender," Fair Michigan President Dana Nessel said. "Judge McConico decided that a hate crime against a transgender person because she is transgender falls within the scope of the law. Fair Michigan instituted the Justice Project to provide the LGBTQ community with this kind of strong advocacy in the criminal justice system."
Rogers accused of shooting woman at Detroit gas station
Officials said the two got into an argument about sexual orientation when the woman told Rogers she is transgender. Rogers then pulled out a gun, police said.
The woman struggled with Rogers over the gun, and she was shot in the shoulder. The incident was caught on surveillance video.
Rogers fled the gas station in a vehicle, leaving his 27-year-old companion behind with her child, police said. The child was unharmed.