Police arrest suspect in Center City attack on transgender woman

A homeless man was arrested Sunday in connection to an attack on a transgender woman in Center City.

The suspect, whose identity wasn’t released by police, approached RyannahQuigley, of Seattle, and her group of friends, at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday outside the Masonic Temple and began staring at Quigley, police said.

“Is there a reason why you’re staring me up and down?” Quigley, 23, asked the man. He responded, “Whatever, bro.”

Quigley told NBC10that she replied by asking him not to call her “bro.”

Jeffrey Marsh, Thank You For Coming Out

Thank You for Coming Out

Then, the man started shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs at Quigley.

“He started screaming. He just kept telling me, ‘You’re a f—t’ … ‘You’re going to hell,'” Quigley told NBC10.

Then the man told her she would “never be a real woman.”

Quigley then pulled out her phone, and streamed a video of their interaction on Facebook Live. In the video, the man can be seen holding a plastic bag and some sort of packaged food item, which he threw at Quigley, striking her.

The man fled, running north on Broad Street, police said.

On Saturday, police released Quigley’s video and asked the public’s assistance in identifying the man. Early Sunday, NBC10 reported that officers observed the suspect in the Frankford Transportation Center wearing the same clothing as during the time of the incident.

He was arrested and will be charged with the assault.