Hadiya Pendleton's family faced the most heart-breaking of tasks Thursday: choosing the dress the 15-year-old shooting victim will wear at her funeral.

"It's been 48 hours of nothing but love, but now they need some time alone," cousin Shatira Wilks said.

The Chicago teen's death on Tuesday -- just a week after she performed during President Barack Obama's inaugural festivities -- put her loved ones in the spotlight.

They consoled the high school sophomore's many friends and cousins. They met with the mayor and spoke to the city's top cop.

Then they asked to be left alone for a day, so they could finalize plans to say farewell to a girl whose death had made headlines across the country and to grieve together.

For Pendleton's 10-year-old brother, Nate, known as Junior, that meant spending time in his big sister's now-empty room.

"He has been sleeping in her bed at night," Wilks said. "It's really sad. He was a serious little brother. And she loved being a big sister."

Pendleton was gathered with fellow members of the volleyball team in a park near the selective King College Prep High School when a gunman opened fire on the group Tuesday afternoon.

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Hadiya Pendleton's parents, Nate and Cleo, and her 10-year-old brother, whom she called Junior.

Police believe the shooter mistakenly thought the teens were members of a rival gang hanging out on disputed turf. He has not been caught.

Pendleton's mother, Cleopatra Cowley, told MSNBC's Al Sharpton on Thursday how she was at work when she got the call that her daughter had been shot.

"I took the first cab I could come across to get to my baby," she said, racked with sobs. "Never in a million years did I imagine I would be getting a call that my baby was shot."

She spoke of her daughter's love of books, her wide-eyed trip to Washington and her promising future.

"She loved life ... and she didn’t want to be anything more than she was – and that was just 15," Cowley said.

The pastor of the family's church said there is a sliver of consolation in the knowledge that the teen's death is stirring more debate about crime and guns in a city where more than 500 people were murdered last year.

"Something has to be done," Pastor Courtney C. Maxwell said, not long after Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he was putting 200 more cops on the street. "I pray something positive comes out of this."

He said he had known Pendleton for about five years and was working on the tribute he will read to mourners at the Greater Deliverance Temple Church.

"What do you say about a young person to her hurt parents, to a hurt community, to a hurt nation?" he said.

Related:

• Friend: Slain Chicago teen said, 'I think I got shot,' then 'she just fell'
• Gunned down after 'the happiest day of her life'
• After Hadiya's death, Chicago to put 200 more cops on the street

Two days after a teen who performed at President Obama's inauguration weekend was gunned down, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to yank 200 cops from desk jobs and make them fight crime on the streets.

The reassignment was recommended by city officials last week, according to NBC Chicago, but it took on new significance Thursday as 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton became the face of Chicago's stubbornly high murder rate.

The sophomore was shot dead Tuesday while sheltering from the rain with fellow members of the volleyball team in a park near her well-regarded high-school, in an upscale section of Chicago's South Side less than a mile from President Obama's home.

The bullet that struck her upper back was meant for someone else, police said. No arrests have been made, and police increased the reward in the case to $24,000.

“When any young person in our city is gunned down without reason, it demands action from all of us,” Emanuel said at a press conference.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, shown here at a conference on gun violence, is set to announce he will put 200 more cops on the street.

“As we grieve for Hadiya, we need to work together to protect our greatest resource, the children of the city of Chicago.”

Emanuel said when he took office he redeployed 570 officers who were on desk duty and credited that with reducing Chicago’s overall crime rate by 8.5%, even as its murder rate increased.

There were more than 500 slayings in Chicago last year. That's about half the number there were in 1974, but still represented an increase over the previous year at a time when other cities are reporting steady decreases in homicides.

Hopes that 2013 would be less bloody were dashed by a grim statistic: 42 people were killed in Chicago this month, making it the deadliest January in more than a decade, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The death of Pendleton -- a majorette with the King College Prep marching band who traveled to Washington to take part in inauguration festivities -- sparked outrage across the nation.

At the White House, a spokesman said the Obamas were praying for her family. On Capitol Hill, her name was invoked during debate over gun control.

Emanuel said the police have been getting tips about who might have killed Pendleton and wounded a 16-year-old friend – both innocent victims caught in what investigators suspect was a gang-related turf war.

The mayor had a message for anyone with information: “Please step forward. That is what a good neighbor does.”

Hadiya Pendleton, center, with her school marching band in Washington a week before she was shot dead in Chicago.

Related:

Friend: Slain Chicago teen said, 'I think I got shot,' then 'she just fell'

Gunned down after 'the happiest day of her life'

Chicago shooting victim Hadiya Pendleton starred in anti-gang video

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Nate Pendleton comforts his son Nathaniel, 10, and his wife Cleopatra in a neighborhood park where his daughter Hadiya was killed.

Four years before she became the innocent victim of what may have been a gang turf war, Hadiya Pendleton starred in an anti-gang public-service video.

Courtesy the Pendleton family

Hadiya Pendleton and friends on her visit to Washington for President Obama's inauguration. She was shot in Chicago a week later.

She was a sixth grader at Carter G. Woodson Elementary School when she delivered a message against the kind of violence that led to her death in a Chicago park on Tuesday.

"Hi, my name is Hadiya... this commercial is informational for you and your future children," she says in the video, which was first reported by DNAinfo.com.

"So many children out there are in gangs, and it's your job to say no to gangs and yes to your future."

The other girl in the video pointed out that too many kids are killed by gang violence, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Police say that appears to be exactly what happened to Pendleton, who was hanging out with volleyball teammates after school when a gunman opened fire on a group of teens. Only a week before, she had been part of a performance at President Obama's inauguration festivities.

Investigators believe the park Hadiya and her pals were in may have been at the center of a turf war, even though the kids were not affiliated with any gangs.

Pendleton's cousin, Shatira Wilks, said most of the family had never seen the video – part of an anti-violence project with the non-profit Digital Youth Network -- before it surfaced after her death.

"But it shows you about Hadiya's personality. She has always been a part of anything that represented good. She never liked being part of anything negative and that is why so many people loved her," Wilks said.

"This video is an affirmation, an acknowledgement of where she stood -- and the tragedy behind it is this is exactly how she died."

The Digital Youth Network said the student-produced piece was part of a project to counter violence through media, and called Pendleton a “learner and a creative voice.”

 “We are inspired by the passion Hadiya and the youth of Chicago have shown for sculpting a better future for themselves and others and will continue to support these efforts in any way we can,” the group said in a statement.

 At a press conference Thursday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city saw "both an increase in gun violence and gang-related activities" in the past year.

“Before a flame becomes a fire… put it out," he said in announcing new anti-crime measures.

Related stories:

• Friend: Slain Chicago teen said, 'I think I got shot,' then 'she just fell'
• Gunned down after 'the happiest day of her life'
• After Hadiya's death, Chicago to put 200 more cops on the street

Police in Michigan are investigating the shooting of a driver that occurred along Interstate 96 Saturday, the latest in a string of shootings in southeastern Michigan, according to local reports.

Livingston County Sheriff Bob Bezotte told local station WDIV that the driver who was shot was taken to a hospital for a wound to his buttocks.

Bezotte said another car was also hit by gunfire but the driver wasn’t hurt. Sheriffs closed off parts of the highway to investigate the shooting.

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Earlier this week, a specially formed task force of 70 investigators from local and state police agencies was investigating 22 reported shootings along or near the interstate in Ingham County, Oakland County, Livingston County and Shiawassee County.

Until Saturday's shooting, none of them involved any injuries. The first occurred on Oct. 16.

Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth told reporters that the nature of the shootings makes the investigation a challenging one.

“We’ve got a 100-mile crime scene there, folks,” Wriggelsworth said.

Police said at least seven of the shootings appear to be linked based on bullet fragments or casings discovered at the scene, although investigators couldn’t point to a specific weapon used, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told the Associated Press.

Based on reports and at least 20 tips, authorities said the gunman appears to be a man in his 30s. Police released a sketch of the possible suspect, described as a young man with closely cropped hair who was driving a black sedan. 

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WIXOM, Mich. -- Police are teaming up to track down a suspect in 16 shootings near the Interstate 96 corridor outside of Detroit, NBC station WDIV reported.

A newly formed task force met for more than three hours behind closed doors Friday evening to pore over dozens of tips that could lead to a suspect, WDIV reported.

"Know that we are coming for you," Wixom Public Safety Director Clarence Goodlein told WDIV. "It's only a matter of time. We're coming for you."

Shootings in the past week were reported on roads in Wixom, Commerce Township, Lyon Township, Howell and Webberville, in western Oakland County and Ingham County, WDIV reported.

In many cases, drivers reported seeing a gunman traveling toward them in the opposite direction, firing shots at their vehicle, the station reported. No one has been injured, but in a few cases bullets have come very close to drivers, WDIV said.

Some shootings occurred in daylight, others at night, WDIV reported.

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Two drivers of vehicles that were struck told WDIV they had no idea what hit them.

"The shot went right through the side of my car," Aaron Mason told WDIV on Thursday, when five vehicles were hit. "Through this side of my car and right into my driver's seat,” he pointed out. “ I'm just lucky I didn't get shot," he said. "

“The parents are scared,” Raymond Bufford of Wixom told WDIV. “Someone has to put a stop to it."

Some residents told WDIV they were avoiding Wixom Road, where most of the shootings took place. At least one shooting was on I-96.

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Authorities described the suspect's vehicle as a dark sports car covered with racing stripes. The headlights are possibly tinted blue.

Police have beefed up patrol enough to ease fears, WDIV reported.

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DENVER -- The families of the 12 people killed and those who suffered permanent injuries in the July 20 shooting at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater will get the majority of the $5 million donated to help the victims, a governor-appointed mediator says.

Kenneth Feinberg said Monday those two classes of victims will get 70 percent of the money, or about $200,000 each, based on current donations. The Aurora Victim Relief Fund currently has $4,961,739, according to a statement released by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's office.

The rest of the donations will go to people who suffered physical injuries, based on the number of days they were hospitalized. Feinberg identified the categories as "victims hospitalized for 20 days or more; victims hospitalized for between eight and 19 days; and victims hospitalized between one and seven days." Victims within each category will receive the same payment.

There were 58 people wounded in the attack.

Slideshow: Shooting at Batman screening in Aurora, Colo.

Ted S. Warren / AP

As many as 12 people were killed and 50 injured at a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. early Friday during the showing of the latest Batman movie.

Launch slideshow

Feinberg said due to limited funds, victims who did not require overnight hospitalization and claims for mental trauma will not be compensated.

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Former University of Colorado-Denver graduate student James E. Holmes is charged with carrying out the the attack during a showing of a Batman movie. 

“We are extremely grateful to Ken Feinberg for his service to victims and their families and to the state of Colorado,” said Hickenlooper in a statement. “He has proven once again why he is the nation’s leading expert in handling these kinds of matters. Those most impacted by the theater shooting are best served by a speedy and fair distribution of the Aurora Victim Relief Fund and Ken is delivering as promised.”

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Feinberg also said Monday was the last day for the public to donate through Community First Foundation's GivingFirst.Org website. Checks, however, will be accepted through Nov. 15, according to the statement.

Feinberg oversaw the compensation fund for victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Hickenlooper recruited Feinberg in September to expedite the disbursement of the Colorado fund and curb turmoil that had grown over the donation process, The Denver Post reported.

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Federal investigators have told NBC News they are examining whether the shootings of Border Patrol agents early Tuesday morning were the result of friendly fire – officers accidentally shooting each other.

Initial reports from U.S. and local officials blamed the shootings on armed criminals. Agent Nicholas Ivie, 30, was killed and another agent was wounded in the incident.

Mexican police said Thursday that they arrested two suspects in a Mexican military operation in the city of Agua Prieta, in Mexico’s northern Sonora state, a few miles from where Ivie was shot, Reuters reported.  

Related: Mexican troops arrest two in killing of US border agent

Ivie was responding to desert sensors that track movements in a remote area five miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, near Naco, Ariz., authorities have said. He was with two other agents, one of whom was wounded and released from the hospital after undergoing surgery. The third agent, a woman, was unharmed.  

Ivie was a father of two who grew up in Utah and was active in the Mormon Church. He had been an agent for four years.

It was the first fatal shooting of an on-duty Border Patrol agent since December 2010, when Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with bandits near the border. Terry's shooting was later linked to the government's "Fast and Furious" gun-smuggling operation, which allowed people suspected of illegally buying guns for others to walk away from gun shops with weapons, an attempt to track the weapons.

Two Border Patrol agents were killed last year in an accident during a car chase with smugglers near Phoenix.

Regarding the more recent case, investigators caution that that have reached no conclusions and still have lots of work to do. But they said they cannot rule out that it was a friendly fire incident.

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Updated at 8:20 p.m. ET: MEXICO CITY -- Mexican troops have arrested two suspects in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent and the wounding of a second officer in Arizona, Mexican security officials said on Wednesday. 

The two suspects were detained in a Mexican military operation in the city of Agua Prieta, in Mexico's northern Sonora state, a few miles from the spot where Nicholas Ivie was shot dead early on Tuesday while responding to a tripped ground sensor, a Mexican Army officer, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

Ivie was among three agents who were patrolling on foot about five miles north of the international border when gunfire erupted. A second agent was also wounded while the third, a woman, was unharmed.  

The agents had been patrolling in an area near the border town of Naco, well-known as a corridor for smuggling, and the Cochise County Sheriff's department has said that tracks were found heading south after the shooting.

Related: Feds examine whether friendly fire killed border agent

Ivie was a 30-year-old father of two who grew up in Utah and was active in the Mormon Church. He had been an agent for four years.

A Mexican police official in Naco, across the border from the Arizona town of the same name, confirmed the arrests, which occurred in the early hours of Wednesday.

U.S. officials refused to comment on the report of the arrests to NBC News.

It was the first fatal shooting of an on-duty Border Patrol agent since December 2010, when Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with bandits near the border. Terry's shooting was later linked to the government's "Fast and Furious" gun-smuggling operation, which allowed people suspected of illegally buying guns for others to walk away from gun shops with weapons, rather than be arrested.

Two Border Patrol agents were killed last year in an accident during a car chase with smugglers near Phoenix.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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