Baltimore court to retry man charged in mass shooting at Edmondson Village Shopping Center

BALTIMORE --  The Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office will retry a man charged in a 2023 shooting at the Edmondson Village shopping center that left a high school student dead, and four others injured.

Police said that on January 4, 2023, 16-year-old Deonta Dorsey and his classmates were outside a Popeyes across the street from the high school during their lunch break when two people started shooting multiple rounds and then took off behind the buildings.  

"He didn't deserve this," Dorsey's aunt said. "He was only 16 years old. He was a good boy. He wasn't in trouble. He didn't mess with nobody."

Daaon Spears, 18, and Bryan Johnson, 18, were charged in the shooting. Spears and Johnson were both 16 years old when the crime occurred, according to officials. 

Spears, 18, was charged with 31 counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault.

Spears was tried by a Baltimore jury in October, but a judge declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. 

On Monday, a judge gave Johnson the option to plead guilty and serve 50 years in jail. Johnson denied the plea deal, and will instead have a joint trial with Spears, which is set for April 28, 2025. 

"We want this case to be treated like it was a mass shooting in Canton or Federal Hill or the Inner Harbor," said attorney Thiru Vignarajah, who is representing Dorsey's family.