Brooklyn police have arrested 38-year-old Jonathan Fernandez in the fatal stabbing of his 41-year-old transgender girlfriend, Eryka Caldwell, inside her Bushwick apartment. According to reports, Caldwell texted 911. When officers arrived around 8:50 a.m., they heard her screaming, “Help me, he’s stabbing me!” before forcing entry through a window. Officers found Caldwell stabbed multiple times, with her throat slit. Fernandez was reportedly sitting nearby. Fernandez has been charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He is being held without bail on Rikers Island. His attorney, however, claims Caldwell attacked him first and says he acted in self-defense. Caldwell recently celebrated her 41st birthday. Though unfortunate, such cases are not as rare in the country. The Human Rights Campaign says more than half of transgender and non-binary people experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.
