Trans Woman Shot Dead on LA's Skid Row

Los Angeles police said a transgender woman was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon on the city's downtown area skid row, which is one of the largest stable populations of homeless people in the United States.

The shooting took place just before 2 p.m., L.A. Police Officer Tony Im told the Los Angeles Times. He added that the suspect approached Kourtney Yochum, 32, and opened fire. She was pronounced dead at the scene. A gun was also found at the scene.

Though police could not identify the victim, Anita U. Nelson, chief executive of SRO Housing Corp., confirmed the victim was Yochum, who lived in a housing project for formally chronically homeless people, the LA Times notes.

According to Nelson, Yochum was walking her two dogs when a gunman approached her and shot her in the head.

"It is mind-boggling; it happened out in the open," Nelson told the newspaper. "I'm heartbroken. Our residents are traumatized, our staff is traumatized. Everybody loved her. She was very popular."

The suspect was apprehended by a security guard until police arrived at the scene and arrested him. The alleged gunman is described as a man in his 20s but his identity will not be released until he is formally booked, Im told the LA Times.

According to Autostraddle.com, Yochum is the seventh trans person murdered in 2016.