Police say around 8:45 p.m. on October. The victim started to open the front door to her home when police say the suspect approached her from behind and sexually assaulted her.
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Montgomery County Police believe Ziona was deliberately targeted in the shooting.
Just a week after the killing of 22-year-old Keisha Jenkins, a transgender woman in Philadelphia, Ziona’s death marks the 21st known homicide of a transgender person in 2015.
Police had earlier identified Ziona as a man named DeAndre Smith. According to reporting from FOX 5’s Marina Marraco, witnesses say Ziona and the suspect had been involved in an altercation before the shots were fired.
“This is a horrific crime and a tragedy for those who knew Zella”, Gaithersburg police Chief J. Thomas Manger said.
“Investigators have been working around the clock on this case, and we are looking at many leads at this stage of the investigation”, police Capt. Paul Starks told BuzzFeed News.
Anyone with information about the suspect or this incident is asked to call police at 240-773-5050.
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NBC Washington reports that Ziona’s mother was at the scene after the shooting at 18312 Contour Road in Gaithersburg. In 2014, at least 13 transgender women were murdered in the United States. She wrote “My condolences to those who loved India, K.C., and all of the other victims”.
