Man accused of beating trans woman to death as she slept near Miami City Ballet is arrested

Was it a hate crime?

Dos Passos’ killing is not being investigated as a hate crime, according to Miami Beach police.

“We have no evidence indicating that she was targeted solely based on her sexuality and, or gender,” police spokesman Officer Christopher Bess told the Miami Herald on Wednesday.

The motive behind her killing was not immediately known.

But Flamingo Democrats, the Miami-Dade chapter of the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, called for the State Attorney’s Office to add a hate crime enhancement to Gibert’s second-degree murder charge.

“The safety of all residents of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County should be of the utmost importance, especially those in marginalized communities such as our transgender community,” the organization said in a statement.

Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office’s Hate Crimes Unit is reviewing the case, the agency said in a statement Wednesday.

“The SAO Hate Crimes Unit reviews every criminal offense that has the potential of being motivated by hate, to see if Florida’s hate crime enhancement is applicable to the specific situation,” the agency said.

Joe Saunders, senior political director with Equality Florida, told the Miami Herald that the “level of overkill” that Dos Passos experienced “is often one of the hallmarks of hate-motivated violence.”

“So whenever a transgender person is murdered, especially when it is with such brutality, the question should be asked about whether or not this was a hate-motivated crime,” Saunders asserted.

Out on probation

The beating death happened six days after Gibert was sentenced to four years probation for aggravated assault with no intent to kill and attempted robbery with a weapon. Gibert also got one year in prison for those crimes from April 5, 2023, but his 377 days in county corrections custody before sentencing counted as time served.

Gibert’s address is listed as “unknown” on the current arrest form, but his Florida Department of Corrections online entry says he was living in an apartment in the aforementioned two-living unit house on Northwest First Avenue in Miami.

His aliases include Gregory Fitzgerald Gilbert and Fitzgerald Gibert.

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