Sixteen-year-old Deonta Dink Dorsey was killed in a daylight shooting on January 4, 2023, while with friends during lunch at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center in Baltimore. Students had gathered outside a Popeyes across from Edmondson-Westside High School when two individuals opened fire, striking five students. Deonta suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene; four other students, two 17-year-olds and two 18-year-olds, survived with injuries.

Deonta’s family remembered him as a quiet sophomore who kept to himself and said he was not involved in trouble; they criticized the shopping center as a known hotspot for violence and open-air drug activity. Baltimore Police identified two teenage suspects and arrested both in February 2023. The two accused, both 16 at the time, were named as Daaon Spears and Bryan Johnson and faced multiple counts including first-degree murder and attempted murder.

The legal process has been drawn out: Spears’ October 2024 trial ended in a mistrial, Johnson rejected a 50-year plea offer in December 2024, and the two were ordered to be tried together with a joint trial set for spring 2025. Does anyone who knew Deonta or witnessed the events that day have information to share?