CLEVELAND, Ohio — An Ohio man was sentenced Friday to 18 years to life after he admitted to gunning down a transgender woman last December.

Prosecutors said Delshawn Carroll, 20, shot and killed Brittany Stergis, 22, on Dec. 6 as she sat in her car outside public housing.

Police found Stergis dead, with a gunshot wound to the head, about 2:30 a.m.

While the motive for the shooting remains unclear, prosecutors said Carroll and Stergis had a past together, reported Cleveland.com.

At first, Carroll denied being with Stergis the night of her death. But investigators found evidence that placed Carroll inside Stergis’ car, prosecutors said.

Police were unable to formally classify the slaying as hate crimes because Ohio law does not include sexual orientation or gender identity in its hate crimes laws.