A 16-year-old girl allegedly confessed to shooting and killing her mother and her mother’s boyfriend following multiple fights with her mother regarding the girl’s transgender identity and “misgendering,” according to court records obtained by The Daily Signal. A police video, also obtained by The Daily Signal, shows her discussing the misgendering dispute.
Julia Grace Egler has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree premeditated murder for the deaths of her 38-year-old mother, Kelley McCollom, and McCollom’s boyfriend, 22-year-old Matthew Szejnrok, on July 7, 2024.
While Egler initially claimed that someone else broke into the residence where she lived with McCollom and Szejnrok, she later “confessed to killing” the victims, according to a probable cause affidavit.
“She admitted that she had broken into [McCollom’s] bedroom while she was gone and obtained a revolver and ammunition,” the affidavit reads.
“She waited in the kitchen area of the residence for them to arrive home, with a gun in her hand and the knife in her right pants pocket. When they walked through the front door, she told them ‘Welcome home’. Moments later, [Egler] shot her mother several times, then shot Matthew several times, as he pleaded with her to stop.”
“[Egler] advised that she had reached her boiling point with her mother following many disagreements in the previous weeks,” the affidavit reads. “[Egler] was not happy with the fact that [McCollom] was not very accepting of her gender transition (pronouns he/him), and she also did not like that [McCollom] was dating [Szejnrok] who was 22-years-old.”
The Palm Bay Police Department provided video footage of Egler’s interview with police on July 7, 2024.
The Transgender Dispute
In the video, the defendant told police that she and her mother frequently fought over issues such as “me being trans.” Egler identified as male and went by the name Jasper.
“She’d be like, ‘You’re not a real boy’ and … you know, the whole spiel of transphobic stuff,” Egler said. (Transgender activists condemn people who disagree with transgender ideology as “transphobic” to suggest that critics have an irrational fear of people who identify as transgender.)
Egler acknowledged her mother’s attempts to compromise, “to meet me in the middle.” McCollom would refer to Egler as “child,” instead of daughter.
“Is she misgendering you?” the detective asked.
“Yeah,” Egler responded.
The detective asked if McCollom was “intentionally calling you ‘she,’ or not using the appropriate pronouns, or not referring to you as Jasper and referring to you as Julia.” The suspect nodded, and added that her mother mentioned that Egler still has a female anatomy.
“All that bulls—, kind of shoving it in my face,” the suspect responded. “Obviously, that’s kind of painful. I already beat myself up about it enough, I don’t need you doing it, too.”
When asked at what age she decided to transition, Egler said, “I’ve never really seen myself as a woman.” She said she pushed her gender identity “away for a long time until I couldn’t anymore.”
When the detective asked if Egler suppressed her feelings while trying to conform to society’s norms, she said, “more trying to fit into my mom’s conforms [sic].”
Egler said her mother denied transgender idoleogy, stating, “No, it’s not real, even if you get the surgeries, it’s not real.”
Egler pleaded not guilty to the two murder charges, and her public defender, Michael Pirolo, told The Daily Signal that her trial has been scheduled for Nov. 2.
Other Transgender Shooters
Egler’s alleged crime arguably fits a growing trend of violent crimes committed by people who identify as transgender or who support transgender ideology.
In February, Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old man who identified as a woman, shot and killed eight in British Columbia, Canada.
Tyler Robinson, 22, who faces murder charges in the September killing of Charlie Kirk, reportedly lived with a boyfriend who identifies as transgender and allegedly told his boyfriend he shot Kirk on his behalf.
Robin Westman, a 23-year-old male identifying as a female, shot and killed two children at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis in August.
Mia Bailey, a 30-year-old man who identifies as female, shot and killed his parents in June 2024.
Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a 28-year-old woman who identified as male, shot and killed six on March 27, 2023, at a Presbyterian school in Nashville, Tennessee.
The man who tried to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in June 2022 identifies as a woman.
On May 7, 2019, Maya “Alec” McKinney, a 16-year-old woman who identifies as male, and her 19-year-old fellow student, Devon Erickson, shot and killed one and injured eight at a school in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
In June 2024, a judge sentenced Alexia Willie, a man who identifies as a woman, after he confessed to threatening to rape girls in girls’ restrooms, carry out mass shootings at schools, and bomb churches.
