A trans-identified male is in custody after stabbing a woman at a homeless shelter until her “internal organs were exposed.” Michelle Silva Perez had been staying at Shepherd’s Gate in Greenville, South Carolina, which offers emergency accommodations to women and mothers with young children.
The shelter where the incident occurred is a branch of Miracle Hill Ministries, which owns a men’s shelter less than four miles from Shepherd’s Gate. However, staff at the shelter claimed they were unaware that Perez was a trans-identified male when they allowed him to enter the facility.
According to The Post and Courier, police were called to the shelter at 11 a.m. on July 18 after 36-year-old Perez got into a verbal and physical altercation with a female shelter employee named Kirby after he had been evicted for misconduct.
Several witnesses reportedly saw Perez push the woman to the ground before stabbing her in the stomach with a “sharp-edged object.” The attack left the woman’s internal organs exposed, and she was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery.
In a statement released last Friday by Miracle Hill Ministries CEO Ryan T. Duerk, he explained Kirby is currently in a stable condition and is resting at the hospital.
“The injured staff member, Kirby, received immediate medical care and is currently stable and recuperating in the hospital,” explained Duerk, adding that the organization is praying for the victim and her family and will “continue to work closely with authorities who are investigating the incident.”
According to his statement, Duerk explained the attacker “had disqualified themself from [the shelter’s] program the night before for not following the guidelines of the facility.”
Perez was immediately apprehended and is being charged with “attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.” He was denied bond during a hearing late last week.
Although he is currently being confined at Greenville County Jail, Lieutenant Ryan Flood, referring to Perez with feminine pronouns, explained he’s being housed “in isolation because [he] is still transitioning to being a woman.”
Reduxx has confirmed with the Greenville County Sheriff’s Department that Perez has been recorded as a male.
In addition to expressing his gratitude at how quickly police were able to arrest Perez, Miracle Hill Ministries CEO Duerk explained that the shelter was unaware he was transgender.
“We found out last night that this attacker, who had been a resident at Shepherd’s Gate for a few weeks, was in fact a male. Let me assure you that we did not know this or suspect it, and Shepherd’s Gate followed all their procedures for intake appropriately,” Durek said.
“All documentation was provided to ensure this individual was a viable candidate to stay in our women’s facility,” he continued, adding that the shelter would have tried to accommodate Perez “differently,” had they known he was a man.
“This is a terribly unfortunate series of events that we will learn and adapt from.”
This is not the first time a trans-identified male has revealed himself to be a danger after being accommodated at a women’s shelter.
As previously reported by Reduxx, a transgender serial killer was allowed to stay at the women’s section of a homeless shelter in New York City despite the discomfort of staff and residents.
Harvey Marcelin, 84, who identifies as a transgender lesbian and uses the name Marceline Harvey, was arrested on March 4, 2022, for the murder of Susan Leyden, 68. Leyden, a former jewelry designer from New Jersey, was a resident of the Sage Center at Stonewall House, an LGBTQ residence in Brooklyn that also houses homeless seniors.
Anne Brennan, the nurse who oversaw the intake of residents, told The New York Times that she had objected to Harvey being allowed entry to the women’s section of the shelter — particularly in light of his long record of violence against women — but her concerns were ignored by her supervisors.
It was at the shelter that Marcelin met Leyden, who would soon after become his third victim.
In addition to the gruesome murder of Leyden, there has been a pattern of trans-identified males putting women’s shelter staff or residents at risk, with multiple incidents of sexual assault being recorded over the past year.