Teen with long arrest record charged with shooting death of transgender woman in South Dade

A teenager in foster care with a lengthy arrest record was charged with the murder of a transgender woman last week in South Miami-Dade County.

William Watson, 17, was charged with shooting and killing Marquis “Keke” Fantroy. Police say Watson admitted to shooting Fantroy while being interrogated for a strong-armed robbery he was suspected of committing on the morning of Aug. 5.

Police did not release a motive for Fantroy’s shooting but the arrest report said investigators learned that Watson and Fantroy were among a group in South Dade standing around and talking when something prompted Fantroy to walk away.

Watson, police said, first shot at another person and missed. He then directed the gun at Fantroy, shooting her, police said. Watson then walked toward Fantroy, a witness told police, and fired several more rounds into her body.

Watson was taken into custody Monday and charged with single counts of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.

Miami-Dade police said they were first alerted to the shooting near the corner of Southwest 222nd Street and 115th Court by an electronic audio system called ShotSpotter that records gunfire in real time shortly before sunrise on July 31.

The shooting death of Fantroy, 21, who was designated male at birth but identified as a woman, prompted an outpouring of anger and sorrow from the transgender community on social media. Fantroy’s mother also blamed her daughter’s death on prejudice. Even before Watson’s arrest, police played that down, saying Fantroy was killed over a dispute that had nothing to do with her gender.

State records show Watson has been arrested on numerous offenses since 2014, when he was 12 years old, including car theft, carrying a concealed firearm and armed robbery. Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show that most of the charges were dropped.

This story was originally published August 8, 2019 at 11:07 AM.