Michigan Transgender Man Shot in Hate-Fueled Pellet Gun Attack

A transgender man who uses a motorized wheelchair said a laughing assailant in a car shot him multiple times with a pellet gun and also yelled an anti-LGBTQ+ slur before driving away.

Jonathan Blake-Newton revealed the details of the incident, including shocking photos of his injuries and the treatment he received at a local hospital in multiple posts on Facebook.

Blake-Newton said he was heading to the store in his motorized wheelchair on Saturday, July 15, after his food stamps account reloaded. Less than two blocks from his home, an unknown assailant in a small beige four-door car “opened fire” on Blake-Newton, hitting his legs, arms, and side.

He said the assailant laughed and shouted “tr*nny f*gg*t” as they drove off leaving him injured and bleeding from multiple wounds.

Blake-Newton, who uses a motorized wheelchair when not in bed and has a history of infections – especially in his legs – contacted his husband back home who immediately called an ambulance.

According to Blake-Newton, though, his troubles were only beginning.

Despite advising staff that he is “Super prone to infections,” he said they did not clean his wounds but only “dabbed saline on them” and dressed them with “a small piece of folded gauze and tape” which he said fell off within minutes, exposing the open wounds.

Blake-Newton also said the hospital refused to admit him for observation for possible infection despite having been admitted to the same hospital twice in the past for infections in his legs.

“I’m bedridden, prone to infections, have multiple sclerosis, and am allergic to MOST antibiotics,” Blake-Newton wrote in a separate post. “I asked them to PLEASE admit me for 24-48 hours to observe me and make sure I didn’t show signs of infection. Also, my right leg is super messed up, I was swollen before I got shot, and I have been leaking fluid out of this leg for the entire 6 hours that I have been here, and it feels like someone is stabbing my bone with a serrated knife, and yet they said that they got all of the pellets out of me. I’m honestly terrified right now.”

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard confirmed to The Advocate the case is under active investigation and offered a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of those involved in the shooting.

“It is reprehensible that someone would do such a cowardly and despicable thing to an individual in a wheelchair, and they need to be held accountable,” Bouchard said in a statement provided to The Advocate.

Despite the attack and his experiences at the hospital, Blake-Newton is doing his best to remain positive and see the larger picture.

“My hope is that my story will spread,” Blake-Newton wrote in his post, “And that one trans voice, one trans experience, will encourage other trans voices to join until we finally become loud enough to be heard and that real change will be made.”

Editor's note: The below images of injuries might be disturbing to some readers.