Keyshia Blige, of Aurora, Illinois, has become the 19th reported transgender or gender non-conforming homicide this year. Blige, who was killed in March, was not initially identified as transgender by local media which named her as Bryce Stiff, but her best friend Sasha Love reported her actual gender identity to the Guardian.

On 7 March 2015, 33-year-old Blige was driving a car with a friend in the passenger seat when several shots were fired. One shot hit Blige, who kept driving but eventually crashed into another car, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

Keyshia Blige, 33, of Aurora, Illinois. Photograph: Facebook

Paramedics called to the scene immediately transported Blige to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead, the newspaper reported.

“It’s definitely not a hate crime,” Dan Ferrelli, media relations manager for the Aurora police department, said. “But we have some working theories that we are looking into.”

No suspects have been arrested.

The Chicago Tribune first identified Blige as a male in its 7 March report. In a follow-up story, the newspaper noted that Blige was a male “transitioning” and had begun taking hormones.

On Tuesday, Love first reported to the Guardian that Blige identified as transgender and used female pronouns.

“She was the happiest I had ever seen her once she started transitioning,” Love recalled to the Guardian.

The case of Blige comes at a time when LGBT homicides are being discussed more, while activists and community leaders are calling for better reporting of these incidents in order to stop them.

In the case of Jasmine Collins, a black transgender woman murdered in Kansas City in June, police initially reported that they were looking for a male victim named Jermaine Collins.

“[W]e can’t even track transgender violence or respond appropriately when police and media outlets refuse to name a trans person’s identity,” said Randall Jenson, youth and outreach coordinator for the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project.

There is not currently a comprehensive federal tracking system for transgender homicides in the US.

“In 2015 we have witnessed the highest homicide rate of transgender and gender non-conforming people in the US ever recorded by NCAVP,” said Chai Jindasurat, co-director of community organizing and public advocacy at the New York City Anti-Violence Project. “Our country cannot continue to watch this violence happen without action.”

“We call on public officials, community leaders, and community members to act now to end this crisis of violence against transgender people. We cannot do this alone, and everyone has a part in ending this violence,” he continued.

Love said that Blige first began realizing her identity once they started performing in drag in the late-2010s. They had both been attracted to it not only because they liked to dress up, but because they had learned how to lip-synch while growing up in their church choir.

“When she would dress up, she would tell me ‘I love being Keyshia. I want to be Keyshia,” Love said. The two performed at weekly shows outside the city of Chicago, where Love was the host, too.

But Blige’s attitude changed on 24 June 2011 when Blige was the victim of a hate crime in a neighboring city, when four men attacked her for being gay – hitting her 30 times, he told police – and leaving her with nerve damage to the face.

The four men were later convicted or pleaded guilty to the hate crime. All men were ordered to pay restitution, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“For a while she stopped doing shows because of the hate crime and she gained more weight,” Love told the Guardian. “She was more concerned with her weight and how she looks, and stopped dressing up.”

Late last year, after significant weight loss and renewed confidence, she started doing shows more and began coming out as transgender, Love said.

“At first when her family found out, they were like: Oh my god, what is he doing?” she said, “but I think once they realized that Bryce is going to do what Bryce is going to do, they got better.”

“Her family they were coming around to the point where they were coming around,” she continued.

Black Lives Matter organizers dedicated Tuesday to raising awareness in over 20 cities of the 13 black transgender and gender non-conforming people murdered so far in 2015, not including Blige.

“At a time when both Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns have been challenged by Black Lives Matter organizers to speak up for racial justice,” a statement from GETEqual, an organizations that works to empower LGBT people stated.

“[T]oday’s day of action will challenge those candidates to go even further to speak up for the Black transgender women who are facing escalating rates of violence.”