A transgendered person fatally shot this week in Treme appears to have been the victim of a deadly robbery involving two young men, both of whom remain at large, New Orleans police said Wednesday.

The 21-year-old victim, who had been known as Penny but was identified by the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office as Perry Thornton, was shot multiple times in the 1100 block of North Claiborne Avenue, near the intersection of Ursulines Avenue. The shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Detective Robert Barrere, the lead investigator on the case, said police don’t believe the victim’s gender factored into the killing “at all”

"We do believe it was a possible robbery,” Barrere said in an interview. “We believe there were at least two suspects involved in the actual homicide, and we’re pretty confident that they were with a larger group before the murder occurred and that the remaining members of the group may have information about the murder.”