15-year-old girl shot dead on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive
CHICAGO -- Authorities say a 15-year-old girl who was shot on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive has died.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified her Saturday as Veronica Lopez.
Police say she and a 28-year-old man were in a vehicle around 1:30 a.m. when a car pulled up alongside them and someone inside opened fire.
CBS Chicago station WBBM-TV reports that the man drove the vehicle to a hospital after the shooting.
Lopez died later after being transferred to another hospital, WBBM-TV reports. The man suffered a graze wound to the head and a gunshot wound to the arm. He was in stable condition.
Police say the man is a gang member and the shooting is likely gang-related.
Police said this week that the city's gang violence is spreading to its expressways and that city police officers would start investigating every such shooting alongside the Illinois State Police.
The city has seen a 52 percent increase in homicides in the past year, The New York Times reported Saturday. More than 230 people have been killed so far this year.