A Tennessee trans woman who was beaten in a “terrifying” attack at a storage unit has spoken out about the horrific incident. 

Professional makeup artist Tyler Flanagan visited the Extra Space storage facility in Nashville on 30 May when an employee of Black Tie Moving verbally and physically assaulted her. 

Flanagan claims she and her friend were moving items in their storage unit when five men wearing branded Black Tie Moving shirts began shouting hateful slurs and misgendering them. 

Taking to social media, Flanagan shared horrendous CCTV footage which showed the men attacking her.

‘Loud, hateful, and terrifying’  

She shared that the men “yelled” that they could “still beat out assesses because we’re men”. “Their aggression was loud, hateful, and terrifying,” she added. 

The incident was reported to Extra Space Storage, who allegedly didn’t take any action to protect Flanagan. As the pair began walking to their car they were confronted again, before one of the men hit Flanagan. 

“His assault was unprovoked, intentional, and fuelled by hate,” she wrote.

“This was the first time in my years living in Nashville that I’ve truly feared for my life. I was attacked by a grown man twice my size. I blocked part of the slap with my hand, but he still struck me in the face. If I hadn’t reacted, he might have knocked me out. I am injured, shaken, and scarred from the trauma of that moment,” she added of the assault. 

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She told WSMV that she feels lucky to be alive: “Those are situations that some people like myself don’t make it out of. There’s a large percentage of people like myself who die from situations like this.” 

Flanagan reported the incident to Nashville Police Department, and officers watched the CCTV footage of the attack. The case remains under investigation with the Special Investigations Division. 

Extra Space Storage and Black Tie Moving condemned the attack. 

Extra Space Storage wrote in a statement: “We are disturbed that this act of violence occurred on our property. “While the individual involved is not affiliated with our company, we are cooperating fully with law enforcement in their investigation. We are also reaching out to support the customer affected by this incident.”

Black Tie Moving took to social media and described the incident as “deeply troubling and entirely unacceptable”. 

CEO Dustin Black noted that after being made aware of the incident that the company took “immediate and decisive action to terminate the employee involved,” and contacted law enforcement. 

“Out hearts go out to the individual affected by this incident. No one should ever feel unsafe or be subjected to harm in any environment. We recognise the lasting harm acts like this can inflict, and we are truly sorry,” they statement added.