Teenage Girl Killed in Shooting on Chicago's South Side

A senior at Curie High School, 17-year-old Naome Zuber was on her way to a birthday party when she was fatally shot

A 17-year-old girl was shot and killed while sitting in a car on Chicago's South Side early Saturday.

The shooting occurred around 12:29 a.m. in the 4500 block of South Wood Street in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood, according to police.

The victim, who family members identified as Naome Zuber, was in the backseat of a vehicle traveling southbound on Hoyne Avenue when a man opened fire from the sidewalk, police said.

Zuber sustained a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to Holy Cross Hospital where she later died. Three other people were in the car at the time, but were not injured.

Chicago Police later confirmed that Zuber was an unintended target in the shooting. 

Zuber was a senior at Curie Metropolitan High School on the city's Southwest Side, her family said, and began working at a concession stand at U.S. Cellular Field in the spring.

Her stepfather Ernesto Alvarez said she was working there earlier in the evening before she was killed. Zuber came home after her shift, he said, and was headed to a birthday party with her friends when the shooting occurred.

"Our final words were, she said, 'I love you papa,' and I said, 'I love you too,'" Alvarez told NBC5. "By the time I got there, they said she was gone."

"She was so bright. She was so loving, so kind," her stepgrandmother Rachel Alvarez said. "She loved the better things in life. She liked to look nice. That's how I remember Naome."

"I just want her to be remembered as the sweet loving girl that would do anything for anybody," Ernesto Alvarez added.

"We lost a daughter, a sister and a friend to many," reads a GoFundMe established to raise money for Zuber's funeral expenses. "She was the sweetest most lovable person I knew. She was the oldest of 3. She loved Volleyball, shopping and just being with her friends."

Zuber's biological father Ray Mangan told NBC5 that Mayor Emanuel reached out to their family.

"He sent his condolences and assured me that he would do everything possible to make sure whoever shot her will be brought to justice, and assured me if there's anything I need I can reach out to him," Mangan said.

Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison is offering a $2000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. No one is in custody and authorities continue to investigate.

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