A suspect has been arrested in connection to the murder of a transgender woman, according to NBC10 sources. Officials have not yet revealed the suspect's identity or the specific charges.
The arrest is in connection to the stabbing death of 25-year-old Maya Young. Young was found at 11:50 p.m. Sunday along the 4800 block of Penn Street with multiple stab wounds to her neck and chest, police said. She was lying on the street when officers arrived.
Police rushed the woman to nearby Aria Frankford Hospital for treatment. She died about 20 minutes later.
Officers were originally dispatched to the 4900 block of Griscom Street after a 911 call about the stabbing came in. That's about two blocks from where Young was found.
The motive for the stabbing is unknown.
"Maya’s name and memory now join an ever growing list of trans identified people who have lost their lives at far too young an age to violence," Nellie Fitzpatrick, director of Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs.
Young is the first transgender person to be killed in Philadelphia this year, Fitzpatrick said. Last year, two transgender women were killed.
Keisha Jenkins was killed during an October robbery in Hunting Park. London Chanel was stabbed to death inside an abandoned home in May. Charges were filed in both cases.
Jenkins and Chanel's deaths were part of a spike in homicides of transgender people across the United States. Twenty-three trans and gender-nonconforming people were killed in 2015.
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"We must work to increase opportunities for jobs and career paths, access to meaningful health care and the coverage to go along with it, housing and education," Fitzpatrick said.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
