WASHINGTON — Alicia Wood was on her way home from work at an area LGBTQ bar one night and decided to get a snack from a local gas station in Northeast D.C.
It was on her way there that she was approached and attacked by a group of teens.
"They were calling me 'he/she', 'tranny,' all those nasty, homophobic comments," Wood told WUSA9 earlier this month.
Wood, who is a transgender woman, has lived in D.C. her whole life and works at DC Eagle.
Wood said the teenage attackers stomped on her head, kicked her and even spit on her. Wood then ran to the nearby Citgo gas station for help but she said the attackers beat her again there.
Wood claims the gas station employee refused to help her or call police. We spoke to some Citgo employees who say there were not there the night of the attack, but did capture the beating on their security cameras and handed that over to DC Police.
Aug. 9, police released some of that footage in an attempt to track down the people of interest involved. As of Aug. 12, there were "no updates" or arrests in the case, Metro PD confirmed, but they were hoping to identify nine people in the video.
Wood - who is a beauty queen and model - said she will keep going because this kind of hate has to stop. There have been several attacks this summer in Maryland and D.C. with trans women as the victims, including the murders of Ashanti Carmon and Zoe Spears.
"I'm going to make sure this doesn't happen to any other trans person of color, I'm going to fight for what's right," Wood said. "I just want people to know they are beautiful and to keep fighting and that they can make a difference."
Anyone with information about the attack or who can identify the people in the video is should call (202) 727-9099 or text a tip to MPD's tip line to 50411.