In what authorities are calling a "robbery gone bad," a transgender woman was shot and killed early this morning in the East Hollywood section of Los Angeles, reports TV station KTLA.
Police, responding to a report of shots fired about 2:30 a.m., arrived at the scene, near the 101 freeway, and discovered a wounded victim. She was transported to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead around 5 a.m.
Witnesses told police the woman was robbed by a group of two or three men. During what witnesses described as a "two-minute struggle" over her purse, the woman was shot in the head, after which the assailants fled on foot.
Another L.A. TV station, KNBC, describes the yet-unidentified victim as being roughly 40 years old. Police say the suspects are Hispanic men in their mid-20s.
Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Joe Losorelli told local media that the department does not believe the crime was the result of antitransgender bias, but it simply "appears that it may have been a robbery gone bad."
According to the Los Angeles Times, there have been six homicides over the course of the past year within a one-mile radius of this morning's shooting.
Those with information on the shooting are encouraged to contact the LAPD's Rampart Station.
