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‘Drug and gang activity’ suspected in fatal Lake Shore Drive shooting

The shooting death of a woman in a van on Lake Shore Drive early Friday is likely connected to “drug and gang activity,” investigators said.

The woman was found slumped in the driver’s seat of her vehicle — “riddled with bullets” — after she was shot early Friday morning on Lake Shore Drive near the Stevenson Expy. early Friday.

Someone inside a full-sized “brown van” fired shots at the woman’s white van while it was on Lake Shore Drive, Illinois State Police Capt. Luis Gutierrez told reporters.The exact circumstances of what led the shooter to fire off “10 to 14 rounds” remained unclear Friday, and investigators had no one in custody, but Gutierrez said it was likely gang-related.

Police found the woman, believed to be in her 30s, after responding to a call of a car crash. The dead woman was inside her van in the southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive near I-55, police said.

The woman was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Illinois State Police said.

Another female passenger in the van was not injured, police said. The passenger was in police custody for questioning early Friday.

Gutierrez said the victim, shortly before the shooting, had driven from the North Side.

As a result of the fatal shooting, authorities closed off southbound lanes on the Lake Shore Drive ramp leading to I-55 about 4:20 a.m., state police said.

“Expect traffic delays,” state police said in a statement. “It is unknown when the ramp will reopen.”