Teenage girl is the 17th trans person to be killed in the US in 2019

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A teenage girl has become 17th trans person known to have died by violent means in the US in 2019.

The 17-year-old was found by on Monday evening, September 2, with gunshot wounds to her torso in Parkwood Avenue, Baltimore.

She later died in hospital.

Homicide detectives at Baltimore Police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

Victim was transgender teen girl, say police.

Police confirmed that the victim was a transgender girl, as reported by ABC‘s local affiliate station.

Unconfirmed reports on social media have named the victim as 17-year-old Bailey.

“On September 2, 2019, at approximately 8:05pm, Northeast District patrol officers responded to the 4300 block of Parkwood Avenue for a report of a shooting,” said Baltimore Police in a statement on Facebook.

“Upon officers arrival, they located a female suffering from gunshot wounds to the torso.

“The victim was transported to an area hospital where she later died.

“Homicide detectives are asking anyone with information to contact them at 410-396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7lockup.”

Baltimore Police Department released a statement on Facebook. (Baltimore Police Department)

So far, at least 17 transgender people have been killed in the US. The vast majority of the victims have been women of colour.

The death of the 17-year-old teen comes after trans woman Tracy Single was allegedly murdered in mid-August.

At least 26 trans people were murdered in the US in 2018, with the majority being trans women of colour.

Most trans murder victims in 2018 were trans women of colour.

The actual number, however, could be higher as there is no official data collection on crimes against trans people, and trans murder victims have been known to be misgendered by local press.

In November, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released a report looking at the high levels of violence against America’s transgender community.

It found that 74 percent of identified transgender murder victims were misgendered (referred to using their birth gender) or deadnamed (referred to using their birth name) in initial police or media reports surrounding their deaths.

“Transgender people face devastating levels of discrimination and harassment in the workplace,” reads the report.

“These barriers are even higher for black transgender people, who have double the unemployment rate of all transgender people, and four times that of the US general population.”

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