A Casper woman is raising funds to pay the medical bills of her sister, who was injured in what the family believes was a transphobic-related attack.
According to a GoFundMe launched by Erin Shipley, her sister Rilee Shipley was attacked late July 15 at a dog park near her apartment in Casper. The woman was kicked in the head multiple times and left bleeding in the dark as she attempted to find her glasses and get back inside with her dog.
“Please consider helping Rilee and Theo (Rilee’s spouse) financially as they figure out how to pay some of the medical bills that will come from this horrific and senseless violence and also maintain their rental and vehicle payments,” Erin Shipley wrote on the GoFundMe.
The family did not say why they believed the attack was related to Rilee Shipley being a transgender woman.
The Wyoming Medical Center said Shipley’s orbital bone, lower sinus and cheekbone were fractured and the woman had a head wound from being kicked in the head.
Rilee Shipley has filed a police report and been in touch with a victim’s advocacy group.
The Shipleys have hit their goal of raising $4,500, hitting more than $5,100 as of Tuesday afternoon.
A few days after being attacked, Rilee Shipley took to social media to say she’d realized a few things since being beaten.
“Breaking your face really hurts. (Not as bad as the neck, but close),” she wrote. “If you’re consistently good to people, even people you don’t know, for no reason and with no expectation of being repaid or even thanked, eventually it’ll come back around and the benefits you reap are 100fold what you’ve sown. I don’t have enough words to thank everyone for all you’ve done for us. In less than 48 hours, a gofundme in mine and Theo’s name has reached its goal and is still growing. We’ve been fed, we’ve been doused in love and affection, we’ve been shown how much we mean to our community and to our friends. I’m so grateful for all my people.”
An updated posted to the campaign on Tuesday noted that Shipley would have to have emergency surgery, scheduled for the coming week, to repair her cheekbone. She will soon be meeting with an ophthalmologist to find out more about her orbital bone fracture.
