Zella Ziona, 21, was found dead in Gaithersburg, Maryland on October 15. She is the 22nd trans woman killed this year.
NBC Washington reports that police believe the shooting was not random and Ziona's death is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
Ziona was seen arguing with a group of young men when one of them pulled out a gun and shot her in the head.
“We are looking at many possibilities in this stage of the investigation,” Montgomery County police spokesman Capt. Paul Starks said. “We are not ruling out the possibility that this could be hate-based.”
“This is a horrific crime and a tragedy for those who knew Zella,” Chief J. Thomas Manger said in a statement Friday. “As with all homicides in Montgomery County, we have detectives working around the clock to thoroughly and completely investigate this murder.”