Girl, 15, shot on Lake Shore Drive near Grant Park was visiting Chicago for mother's birthday

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 15-year-old girl was wounded in a shooting on Lake Shore Drive near Grant Park Thursday night, Chicago police said.

She was reportedly visiting Chicago to celebrate her mother's birthday, according to the Sun-Times.

The girl is the 24th child shot in Chicago since May 22.

Police said the girl was a passenger in a car with her family traveling southbound in the 500-block of South Lake Shore Drive at about 11:37 p.m.

Their car was stopped at a red light and police said when the light turned green, someone from inside a four-door red Ford Expedition fired shots, hitting the teen.

They were on their way back to Cicero with her mother and three younger siblings after celebrating at the lakefront, the Sun-Times reported.

"The way they shot into the car, there was no regard for life," community activist Andrew Holmes said. "For me, this was an execution."

The shooter "was inches away," according to Holmes, who said he spoke with the girl's family and saw surveillance video.

Two shots were fired, one through a window and another through a car door, Holmes said. The bullet went through the girl's shoulder and into her abdomen, he said.

The girl was driven by family to MacNeal Hospital and she was then transferred to Loyola Medical Center in critical condition.

According to police, a witness inside the teen's car says the attacker wasn't familiar to them and wasn't interacting at all with the family before the shooting.

Holmes said the girl is a straight-A freshman at Morton East High School and is especially close with her mother. "It's taken a toll on this family, especially the mother," Holmes said. "They're a close-knit family."

Holmes said he was offering a $1,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the shooter. He hoped police could identify the gunman from the numerous surveillance cameras downtown.

"With all the money spent in high-tech cameras, there's no way they can't find them," Holmes said.

No one is in custody and Area Three Detectives are investigating.

The teen the 138th juvenile shot in Chicago this year according to police data. That's around a 20% jump from last year. Four of the five people shot on Thursday are under 18, according to police data.

The Sun-Times Media Report contributed to this article.