Tahiry Broom, a 29-year-old Black transgender woman, was found dead on the morning of February 9, 2025, in the parking lot of the Riverstone Apartments in Southfield, Michigan. Emergency responders arrived about 10:14 a.m.; Broom was lying face down in the snow with a single gunshot wound to the right side of her head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police quickly identified a suspect, 28-year-old Robert Ridges III of Southfield. Investigators say Broom and Ridges had connected through a commercial sex advertisement and arranged to meet that morning. An argument reportedly ensued and escalated to Ridges allegedly shooting Broom. A witness saw a man flee in a bluish-gray vehicle later identified as Broom’s 2021 Chevrolet Equinox, found about 400 feet from the scene.

Ridges was arrested hours later at the MGM Grand Casino in Detroit. Officers allege a Sig Sauer 9mm handgun recovered at his residence — reported stolen from Georgia in 2023 — was the weapon used. Investigators also say Ridges made 33 phone calls that morning to various sex workers; many were Black women, including members of the transgender community, and Ridges’ claim he did not know Broom was transgender is noted as unlikely.

Did anyone in the area see a bluish-gray Chevrolet Equinox that morning or have information about contacts between Broom and Ridges?