A young man is being questioned in connection with a Monday morning shooting of a transgender woman during a possible home invasion in eastern Birmingham, and authorities are trying to determine whether that incident is linked to the slaying of another transgender woman in the city and a theft in Homewood.

Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards today confirmed a person of interest in Monday's shooting is undergoing questioning. He has not yet been charged with any crime, but is being held in the Birmingham City Jail, according to jail records.

Police also say Monday's shooting could be linked to the slaying of a transgender woman killed at a Birmingham motel. Police in that case initially identified the victim as a male, but have since released that she was a transgender woman.

Housekeeping at the Kings Inn on Third Avenue North made the discovery in a second-floor room on Friday, Sept. 23. Authorities said the 30-year-old Hason Amin Alford, of North Carolina, had been shot. She was found lying on the floor of the room and pronounced dead on the scene.

Officers were told that gunshots could be heard at the location prior to officers' arrival to the scene. Shelton said investigators have no motive or suspect information. "This was a tragic end to a life,'' Sgt. Bryan Shelton said the day of the slaying. "The key for us is to figure out the nature of the victim's relationship to the suspect prior to the shooting."

Alford's sister, Toya Milan who is also a transgender woman, said she is pleading for answers in her sister's death. "She was such a loving person and we didn't know anybody that would want to hurt her,'' Milan said of her sister, who went by the name Jazz. "It's been a hard pill to swallow."

"Her death was a huge hit for the LGBT community,'' Milan said. "There was another transgender shot multiple times somewhere else recently. People think transgenders are monsters, when really we just want to be accepted."

Monday's shooting happened at 10:05 a.m. in the 7500 block of Fifth Avenue South. The victim was shot in the face and rushed to UAB Hospital. Efforts to obtain her condition today have been unsuccessful.

The victim's boyfriend arrived home shortly after the robbery and shooting. Darius Foster said he got home from the store to find his 24-year-old girlfriend on the front porch. "She came out on the porch screaming 'Help me,''' Foster said. "It was bad. There was nothing pretty about it."

Foster said the assailant was still at the scene. He said he banged on the window of the white truck he was in and said he sped off toward Oporto-Madrid Boulevard. Foster said cash and debit cards were missing from his girlfriend's wallet.

He also said he believes the suspect is the same person who robbed another friend of theirs at a Homewood motel. He said a gun was stolen in that incident, and he believed that gun was used to shoot his girlfriend today. Homewood police identified that victim as male, but Foster said the Homewood victim was a female.

In that case, Homewood police Sgt. John Carr said the victim left the motel room Americas Best Inn two weeks ago from 6:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Upon return, the victim discovered the gun was missing. It is being treated as a theft case.

"It has yet to be determined if the stolen firearm is connected to any ongoing investigation by Homewood Police or any other agencies,'' according to a Homewood police press release.

Birmingham homicide Sgt. John Tanks today said there is a possibility the two Birmingham shootings are somehow linked, but at this point detectives don't know. "Right now,'' he said, "we're investigating them separately."