After being shot to death, a trans woman is the eighth in the US to be unlawfully killed in 2017.

The 38-year-old victim, Alphonza Watson was shot in the stomach and killed, reports the Washington Blade.

She was found at 4.15am in Baltimore after being shot.

According to witnesses, someone was heard shouting for help and two men were seen getting into a car and running away.

The victim was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital but she died shortly after.

“At this time, we don’t have a lot to go on,” Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith told the Baltimore Sun.

“What we know is that there was apparently some sort of argument that took place.”

The police department posted a call for information on Facebook.

2016 was the deadliest year on record for trans people as 27 people were killed.

The killing of Jaquarrius Holland, 18, was the seventh reported trans woman to be killed in the US in 2017.

A second trans woman of colour was stabbed to death in New Orleans earlier this year, the second in two days.

Ciara McElveen was found stabbed in the 7th ward of New Orleans by the city’s police department.

McElveen’s death came just two days after a transgender performer was shot dead in the city.

Chyna Gibson, who went by the stage name Chyna Doll Dupree, was shot several times outside of a shopping centre.

Gibson’s death came , just 4 days after Tiara Richmond (Keke Collier) was murdered in Chicago the week before.