Man receives 25 years for deadly Edmondson Village Shopping Center mass shooting

One of two teens charged in a deadly mass shooting at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center in 2023 was sentenced Thursday to serve 25 years in prison, capping a brazen daytime act of violence that sparked outrage across the city.

Bryan Johnson, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, did not speak before Baltimore Circuit Judge Lynn Stewart Mays handed down the agreed-upon sentence for first-degree murder and related crimes.

Following his release from prison, Johnson, 20, of Shipley Hill, must spend five years on supervised probation.

Prosecutors allege that Johnson and his then-16-year-old cousin, Daaon Spears, opened fire outside a Popeyes in the shopping center on Jan. 4, 2023, killing Edmondson-Westside High School sophomore Deanta Dorsey and wounding four other students.

Dorsey was 16. He was a loving child who enjoyed playing video games and basketball and eating cereal with milk, according to his obituary.

Spears, now 20, of Baltimore County, was found not guilty in February at a retrial of all charges, including first-degree murder. Less than five months later, he pleaded guilty to having a loaded handgun on his person in an unrelated case and was sentenced to serve one year in jail, according to court records.

Dorsey’s aunt Precious Hammond told the court that the loss of her nephew has had a profound and heartbreaking effect on her family.

“There is no justice,” she said, “whether you give him 25 years or you give him life.”

Though time might help the family live with the pain, Hammond said, it will never erase their sadness or the love they have for him.

“His life mattered,” Hammond said. “His memory will continue to live on.”

Following the shooting, community members expressed hope that there would be more urgency to address crime at the shopping center. It’s now under new ownership.

The Baltimore City Council considered a bill that would raise penalties for businesses that violate a curfew policy for people under 18.

Assistant State’s Attorney Rita Wisthoff-Ito lamented that Johnson appeared to have a good upbringing but decided to turn to the streets.

Normally, Wisthoff-Ito said, prosecutors would not have offered such a plea agreement. If there had been more evidence, she said, she would have proceeded to trial.

Johnson’s attorney, Hunter Pruette, said his client was looking to move forward.

“In situations like this, there are no words,” Pruette said. “There is immeasurable pain in this courtroom.”

Pruette said he hopes his client will one day be able to show that he is more than the crime he committed.