Family hopes for justice for Baltimore teen shot 16 times as second murder trial begins

Family members of Deanta Dorsey, a 16-year-old who died in a mass shooting at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center in 2023, sat through heart-wrenching 911 calls and graphic autopsy photos inside the Cummings Courthouse in downtown Baltimore Tuesday. 

The teenager charged with his murder is on trial again, more than three years after the killing, because jurors could not come to a verdict at his last trial.

New trial begins 

The prosecution is building their case around video evidence including several angles of the shooting.

Deanta Dorsey, a 16-year-old sophomore at Edmondson-Westside High School, was shot 16 times outside the Popeyes restaurant in the Edmondson Village Shopping Center in January 2023.

Assistant State's Attorney Rita Wisthoff-Ito told jurors in her opening statement, "When you shoot somebody 16 times, what is your intent? Your intent is to kill." 

Daaon Spears, who was 16 at the time, is on trial again and charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and gun offenses. Spears is now 19 years old. 

The other murder suspect, Bryan Johnson, who was also 16 when the killing happened, is being tried separately. 

"Being forced to relive the nightmare of their teenage son's murder is horrific. To do it once, to do it twice, to potentially have to do it a third time is revisiting a pain that no family should have to experience in the first place," said attorney Thiru Vignarajah, who represents the Dorsey family. "This family has waited a long time for justice. They are prepared to wait a little longer, but the killers of their son, the perpetrators of this mass shooting at a high school during the school day, need to be brought to justice, and this trial, we hope, is one step in that process."

The prosecution does not appear to be deviating from their strategy during the last trial in October 2024, which ended with a hung jury. 

The state began by playing 911 calls and showing jurors police body camera video of the scene. 

Dorsey's aunt briefly walked out of court with tears in her eyes as a frantic 911 caller described the extent of her nephew's injuries, the bullet wound to the neck, the lack of a pulse. 

"Hearing citizens screaming in response to their nephew, their son being shot in cold blood in the middle of the day, that is harrowing for anyone to listen to," Vignarajah said. 

According to Dorsey's obituary, he was the oldest boy of 11 children. 

"Deanta always had a smile on his face. His favorite thing to eat was cereal and milk. He would eat it all day if he could. Deanta was a loyal person and a kind person. He loved his family," his memorial said.

Suspect claims innocence 

Spears' defense attorney Brandon Taylor told the jury in his opening statement, "The state is pointing their fingers in the wrong direction." 

He noted a "circumstantial" case with no DNA, fingerprints or ballistics tying his client to the mass shooting. 

"Every single one of those family members has been waiting for justice for years," Taylor said.  "…Convicting an innocent teenager for crimes he did not commit is not justice. It's another tragedy."

Four other teenagers were wounded in the mass shooting that killed Dorsey.