Shooting victim suspects attack was a hate crime
Posted Jun 15, 2011 11:14:24 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The woman wounded by a shotgun blast through her apartment door in Fairview on Tuesday morning says the attack had nothing to do with drugs. She suspects it was a hate crime.
Chris Cochrane, 25, is a trans woman and drag performer who goes by the stage name Elle Noir. She’s currently Miss Gay Halifax.
“It still hasn’t registered with me that I actually was shot,” Cochrane told News 95.7.
Cochrane says the gunmen on the other side of the door at 56 Evans Avenue, who initially identified themselves as police, were shouting things that have her convinced they knew who she was and what she does.
“They were yelling profanities at us, yelling ‘let us in, let us in,’ ‘faggot,’ yelling ‘tranny, let us in,’ so that leads me to believe that it was targeted towards me,” said Cochrane. “They obviously were shooting to kill, because you don’t fire through a door not knowing what’s on the other side.”
Cochrane says speculation that the shooting was drug-related is wrong.
“I want to clear the air 100% right now, that had nothing to do with it,” she says. “I am the last person you would ever think about with drugs.”
Cochrane says she’ll be moving somewhere safe once she gets out of hospital, but says she will be at Pride festivities with her stillettos strapped on.
“I always hated guns to begin with. I was in the Navy for four years and I hated guns,” she says. “If I ever see a gun again in my life ever again, it’s far too close.”
