In the days following the Feb. 28 shooting of Righteous Torrence “TK” Hill, 35, a well-known and beloved Atlanta LGBTQ salon owner, details surrounding what led an unnamed gunman to open fire, shooting Hill multiple times in the front entrance of his East Point home resulting in his death, were non-existent until now.
Hill’s gender identity as a trans man amid an epidemic of Black trans violence led to online speculation that anti-trans hatred may have played a role in his murder. Hill’s mother, Verna Hill Wilcox, tells GLAAD the gunman murdered her son because of hate, “but it was not because he was transgender.” Wilcox also reveals the gunman’s identity, the victim’s cousin, Jaylen Hill, 22. Wilcox says Jaylen was “floating” between his mother’s Atlanta and Hill’s East Point residences.
“TK went out of his way to help him,” Wilcox said. “He bent over backward to help this child ever since he was in this world.”
GLAAD spoke with Verna Hill Wilcox about her son TK and the tragic events that led up to his murder. By all accounts, he flourished as a business owner—providing a safe space for the most marginalized in a revered Black institution—the barbershop. TK was loved unconditionally as his authentic self by family, friends, colleagues, and his partner. Still, in the end, he was not immune to other ravages in the community, including gun violence and mental health distress, a deadly combination for TK and the loved ones he was forced to leave behind.
Wilcox said Hill and his partner Terri Wilson, 41, were invested in stabilizing their cousin Jaylen.
“TK had apparently purchased him uniforms and shoes to start another job,” TK’s mother said. “TK had finally reached a point where it was like, no matter what we do for you, you still have a sense of entitlement, and you’re not showing us the respect and love we’re showing you.”
Wilcox believes the sense of entitlement Jaylen felt reached a boiling point when her son found himself on the opposite end of Jaylen’s gun on the night of Feb. 28.
“TK got into a verbal altercation with Jaylen,” Wilcox said. “He was chastising him for using their stuff. Terri let them use their vehicle, and he stayed gone for four hours. When he came back, he had an attitude about somebody else’s merchandise, and TK reprimanded him for that and told him to leave.”
Wilcox tells GLAAD she believes this was her son’s last straw. His patience and generosity toward his cousin had run out.
“TK had a right to be angry. He had a right to tell him to get out of the house. TK had a right to tell him no; we won’t tolerate this behavior,” Wilcox said. “We won’t tolerate you taking our merchandise. We won’t tolerate disrespect. And after they were outside of the house, why didn’t he just leave? No. He had to do one last act of defiance,” she added.
According to a report obtained by GLAAD from the East Point, GA Police Department, a call was placed on Feb. 28 at 9:27 p.m. ET regarding a person shot on the 1700 block of Connally Drive. Upon arrival, Officer K. Bryant observed a Black male lying on his living room floor with three gunshot wounds. He was shot in his right upper arm, left thigh, and left torso.
Jaylen Hill is the only suspect in the case and is currently a fugitive. Wilcox says the East Point Police Department has asked the family not to release his image online or to the media, but if anyone knows his whereabouts, they should contact Det. R. Graham at East Point Police. However, Wilcox says she’s unsure how much longer she’s willing to be patient.
“If you guys don’t do anything, we have to take matters [into our own hands.] We have to put it out there. We’ve got to get this resolved. Because he’s a fugitive,” she said. “And if you do that to a relative, what do you care about the rest of society? You don’t.”
Wilcox also tells GLAAD that everyone in the family knew that Jaylen had a firearm but told everyone it was for protection.
“We knew he had that gun for several years,” she said. “It ended up not being for protection. It became a murder weapon.”
We think we all have time
Hill’s funeral service was held on Mar. 11 at Richard R. Robinson Funeral Home in his hometown, Macon, GA. Two days later, in her conversation with GLAAD, Wilcox described the moment she learned her son had been shot from a phone call from his partner and the two-hour drive from her home in Macon with her husband and daughter to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where Hill had been transported for surgery as a blur.
“We walked in [the room], and TK was there. And I said, ‘ We’re here, and we love you,’ Wilcox said. It was as if TK was holding on until we got there. A few seconds later, I don’t know how many, he shed a tear, and his spirit left his body. We were able to be there. TK knew he was not alone.”
“This tragedy has changed my life and the lives of my family, but God prevails,” said ‘Pop’ Zelb Wilcox Jr.—Hill’s stepfather—during the funeral.
In a demonstration of incredible strength and vulnerability, Wilson, Hill’s partner, shared the lengths Hill underwent to help find her biological family and why, in his absence, it matters more than ever. Wilson has since reconnected with her biological family, who were present during the service.
“This has been the longest Torrence and I have ever gone without any type of communication,” Wilson said. “He was my friend, my protector, and my biggest cheerleader. Now that he’s not here anymore, I feel like there’s a reason why he went so hard to find my biological family, so I could have someone here to help me through my time of loneliness and sadness,” she said.
Loved ones remembered Hill as selfless and giving, a man with a big personality and an even bigger heart.
“Chevy [one of the names TK also went by] made you feel something,” said Sybastian Smith, Organizing Director at the National Center for Transgender Equality, who was also tasked with delivering Hill’s eulogy. “Whether you felt loved, protected, listened to, entertained, cared for, or motivated, whatever it was, he made you feel something.”
Smith reflected on the last time he spoke to Hill two weeks before his untimely passing.
“We think we all have time,” Smith said. “Chevy contacted me two weeks prior to ask me about my schedule so we could meet up. Lord knows if I’d known what I know today, I wouldn’t have delayed,” Smith said as his voice began to crack and tears ran down his face. I would have rushed. I would have come.”
A common refrain in Black church circles is that God can use anybody. Smith implored mourners “to not miss your blessing or the message God has for you because it arrives in a package that you did not expect or it arrives from an unlikely messenger.”
Now that her son’s life has been taken prematurely as a result of senseless gun violence, Wilcox echoed Smith’s message and directed it specifically to Black parents of trans children.
“If everybody wants to say they’re like Christ, he said he doesn’t look at the outer appearance. He looks at the heart,” Wilcox said. “Love them no matter who they are. Your child needs your love. I didn’t always understand everything, but [the one thing] I knew I could do was love my child. I didn’t see my child as a male or female. I saw my child as a person. Because in the end, you’re going to wish you’d loved them.”
Any information that can lead to Jaylen Hill’s arrest can be submitted anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-TIPS (8477), online at crimestoppersatlanta.org, or by texting CSA and the tip to CRIME (274637). Det. R. Graham is the lead Investigator in this case. His phone number is 404-270-7069.