An 18-year-old man has been arrested for killing a transgender woman in Chicago on May 31 — at least the 16th murder of a transgender person in the U.S. this year according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Orlando Perez confessed that he shot Selena Reyes-Hernandez, 37, in the back and the head before leaving and later returning to shoot her lifeless body again, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told USA TODAY on Thursday that the way Perez "devalued" Reyes-Hernandez is "part of the epidemic of violence" against transgender women.

According to a 2017 report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects, people of color and transgender people were most often victims of hate violence murder. In 2017, 71% of victims were people of color, 52% were transgender, 40% were transgender women of color.

Last week: Two Black transgender women were killed, thousands showed up to protest

But the number could be much higher as few transgender people report these incidents, Keisling said, because of "a combination of stigmatization, marginalization and criminalization."

"We need to shine a bright light on this," she said. "Lots of incidents of violence against transgender women go unreported because they’re afraid to go to police."

The HRC tracked at least 27 deaths of transgender people in the U.S. in 2019.

Although they lived blocks apart, prosecutors told the Sun-Times there was no indication Perez and Reyes-Hernandez knew each other before they were seen on video surveillance returning together to her South Side home around 5:30 a.m. on May 31.

Perez allegedly told detectives that while inside, he asked Reyes-Hernandez if she was a girl. When she said she was transgender, he told her he had to leave.

He returned later, found the victim's door open and walked in and shot her, Perez told detectives, according to the Sun-Times.

Cook County Judge Arthur Wesley Willis ordered Perez held without bail.

On Twitter, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said "being outraged is not enough."

"We must fight and fight hard to keep our Trans community protected and demand their attackers are brought to justice," she wrote.

Reyes-Hernandez’s murder followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which spurred nationwide protests against police brutality and the discrimination of African Americans and queer and transgender people of color.

Within the past week, massive protests in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago were held in support of transgender lives. The marches followed the murders two Black transgender women, 27-year-old Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells and 25-year-old Riah Milton.

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