They’re not getting any older. Tulsa's most recent homicide proves it.
18-year-old, Michael Dorsey, a McLain High School senior was arrested, accused of murdering 20-year-old, Ryan Jones. Police say guns and drugs were involved. They usually are.
"Its disturbing."
Because Officer Leland Ashley says for teens in trouble, it rarely stops there.
"We'll see them once they turn 18, we'll see them in the adult system," said Ashley.
"I just don't understand why people would get involved in stuff like that," said neighbor, Latoya Walker.
But to understand it, some say you'd have to understand the environment.
Often times, the money and the fame police say, is enough of a lure to tempt teens, because they rarely consider the consequences.
"They don't believe they're looking at prison time,” said Ashley.
Which begs the question, how do you stop it?
"God we ask for your holy spirit to hover over our city," said Pastor, Richard Jones.
Jones says it takes people getting down on their hands and knees, literally.
"The battle is out here, not inside the church," said Jones.
He mentors teens by going into their environment. Offering something he says many don't have, hope.
"I'm a firm believer that there's not a lost kid out there," said Jean Carpenter Williams, Director of Youth Services. "We get through life, because of connection, because of relationship.”
Something she says is missing in many communities, leaving nothing but time for teens to fill that void with trouble.
