Slain teen’s family home targeted in weekend shooting

By Tashi McQueen,
AFRO Political Writer,
tmcqueen@afro.com

Deanta Dorsey’s family home was hit by bullets several times on Feb. 18.

Baltimore Police Department officers were called to the family’s home at roughly 1:45 a.m. Authorities have confirmed that all residents at the property were physically unharmed.

“Saturday morning, some time after midnight, the Dorsey house was shot up. This was a source of great concern and frustration for the family,” said Thiru Vignarajah, the Dorsey’s attorney, to the AFRO. “There were 11 members of the family that were home, including four children.

The family’s attorney said there were about five or more shots discharged at the home.

“One bullet went through the window and into a living area and another bullet hole can be found on the front door right in the center,”said Vignarajah. “We don’t have direct information suggesting that this was in retaliation, or a response to the arrest of one of the killers of Deanta, but we’re not going to bury our heads in the sand and be oblivious to the conspicuous timing of this attack.”

Dorsey, a 16 year-old student at Edmondson-Westside High School, was shot and killed Jan. 4 at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center during lunchtime. He is among five young men who were wounded in that incident. The other four young men have since been treated and released from area hospitals, according to the police.

According to the police there have been 37 homicides so far in 2023 and 51 homicides in 2022.

In the past week alone, from Feb. 15 to 21, five homicides were reported.

On Feb. 17, the attorney for the Dorsey family announced that an arrest had been made.

A 16-year-old was taken into custody for the first-degree murder of Dorsey.

“The fact that the person responsible for this murder is also 16 years-old, only amplifies the tragedy of this horrific situation,” said Vignarajah in a phone interview with the AFRO. “This is a tragedy for the Dorsey family, a tragedy for the city. We see every day how our system has failed our young people and the casualties of that are the young people themselves.”

On Feb. 19, Mayor Brandon M. Scott released a statement responding to the arrest.

“No amount of justice will bring Deanta back to his family,” said Scott. “I hope that the great investigative work done by the Baltimore Police Department will bring a semblance of closure. But there are no winners here. Somewhere down the line, we failed these young people as a community.”

“My thoughts and prayers go out to their families and the community, and my continued mission is to ensure that our children are safe from violence,” Scott continued. “That work must be done by all of us, not just some of us with others sitting on the sidelines, refusing to get involved.”

Tashi Mcqueen is a Report For America Corps Member.