Reward of $7K for info in murder of teen killed in Detroit drive-by

(WJBK) - She was a loving daughter with a kind spirit and a big heart. Her family hopes you can find the killer of their 15-year-old girl.

Unbearable pain for the family of Jada Rankin the 15-year-old was shot dead outside her grandmother's home last October, after celebrating her brother's birthday.

"She was a jewel to us," said her grandmother. "She was everything. Smart, intelligent, her school loved her. Everyone loved Jada."

It happened on Ardmore Street. Jada's brother told a speeding driver to slow down and instead he opened fire on the family killing Jada.

"The guys who committed this crime are cowards in my eyes," said father Jimmie Rankin.

She would have turned 16 this week.

"We just celebrated her birthday," said her grandmother. "And it was the most painful thing in the world. I thought she would bury me, but I had to bury my granddaughter."

Jada was a 4.0 student at Sterling Heights high school. A kind soul with a bright future all gone, in a senseless tragedy.

"It is going to be tough for us every day of our lives," Jimmie Rankin said. "It is not going to go away."

Crime Stoppers is now offering a $7,000 reward for a tip that leads to an arrest.

Jada's family knows finding the killer won't bring her back -- but they hope to find some measure of peace, knowing he will pay, for stealing their girl away from them.

"He took so much from us," her grandmother said. "Through a senseless act of shooting somebody because somebody said slow down, was horrible."

"She would want us to fight for her in every way possible," Jimmie Rankin said. "This is what needs to be done."