Editor's Note: Please click on the audio story above to listen to the family of the teenager slain during the Edmondson Village shooting.

When Lyneir Richardson, CEO of Chicago TREND, decided to try and buy Edmondson Village Shopping Center, he said he knew that addressing crime was one thing that needed to be a priority.

“Stevie Wonder can tell that there is drug dealing in the parking lot,” he wrote in a text about what he observed.

Rather than let his concern deter him from purchasing the shopping center — which he thought had great potential because of its proximity to busy Route 40, among other things — he looked for ways to address the crime. His community development corporation applied and won a state grant to be used for crime prevention and intervention efforts at the retail center.

His concerns, as well as those of residents, hit a new level Wednesday when Deanta Dorsey, 16, was killed and four other teenage boys injured in a mass shooting outside a Popeyes restaurant at the shopping center, which is across the street from Edmondson-Westside High School.

The heartbroken family of Dorsey gathered this week to address the public and ask for help.

Dorsey’s aunt told WYPR the family is mourning the loss of a son, a brother and a nephew. The family said during a recent press conference they do not know why he was shot. And they are hoping his murder doesn’t become one of the hundreds of unsolved homicides in the city.

Baltimore City Police Department officials said that the two gunmen are still at large, and are asking anyone with information to contact its anonymous tip division.

...This story continues. Read the rest at The Baltimore Banner: Residents hope mass shooting brings new urgency to crime at Edmondson Village Shopping Center

WYPR and The Baltimore Banner have a joint operating agreement that allows the nonprofit organizations to work collaboratively to deliver quality journalism across the region. To learn more about the partnership, click here.