Why does my "spawnedEnemies" variable not update when enemies are destroyed?

I'm creating a shooter game and I'm trying to update the current count of enemies on screen. When the laser $$anonymous$$ts an enemy, it is supposed to subtract 1 from the "spawnedEnemies" and then destroy the laser. What's happening is that the spawnedEnemies count doesn't update in game, only when the game is over. Then when the game is over, it shows a negative number. When the game starts, there is 0 enemies spawned.

T$$anonymous$$s is my EnemyController class. When the "Enemy" is $$anonymous$$t with a laser, it updates the "spawnedEnemies" int in the GameManager class. But it doesn't update it in game, only when the game is over and it shows a negative number. Ex: I spawn 5 enemies, I shoot all 5 of them and it shows -6 in the Inspector.

 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using UnityEngine;
 
 public class EnemyController : MonoBehaviour
 {
     public GameManager theGM;
 
     // Start is called before the first frame update
     void Start()
     {
     }    
 
 private void OnTriggerEnter2D(Collider2D other)
     {
         if (other.tag == "Laser")
         {
             theGM.spawnedEnemies = theGM.spawnedEnemies - 1;
             Destroy(t$$anonymous$$s.gameObject);
         }
     }
 }

T$$anonymous$$s is my GameManager class:

 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using UnityEngine;
 
 public class GameManager : MonoBehaviour
 {
     public int maxEnemiesAllowed;
     public int spawnedEnemies;
     public float timeBetweenEnemies;
     public float nextEnemySpawn;
 
     public GameObject[] enemies;
 
     // Start is called before the first frame update
     void Start()
     {
         spawnedEnemies = 0;
     }
 
     // Update is called once per frame
     void Update()
     {
         float spawnPosition = Random.Range(-2.25f, 2.25f);
 
         if(spawnedEnemies <= maxEnemiesAllowed && Time.time >= nextEnemySpawn)
         {
             Instantiate(enemies[0], new Vector3(spawnPosition, 6f, 0f), Quaternion.identity);
             spawnedEnemies++;
             nextEnemySpawn = Time.time + timeBetweenEnemies;
         }
     }
 }