PITTSBURGH — Police continue to search for a gunman who shot a teenager outside a church in East Liberty Sunday night.
Deontay Smith, 17, was shot and killed outside Inner Cities Ministries along North St. Clair Street while others were attending church services, police said.
The teen, police said, was standing outside when someone walked up to him and shot him.
Investigators said Smith was shot execution style and was likely being watched before the shooting. Police said the gunman fired at least 12 rounds.
Smith’s family members are offering a reward for information leading to an arrest.
“For us to find the person who killed my nephew means we don’t want him out here taking another life,” Smith’s aunt, Donna Davis, said. “We’re trying to get money together for a reward.”
Channel 11's Renee Kaminski reported that homicide detectives are looking at another shooting that took place in the same area two weeks ago.
“The people responsible, they're cowards for the simple fact, why you got to pull a gun on an unarmed person? Why there have to be a gun at all?” said neighbor Walt Clements.
"There's no words to explain the way I feel because the way I feel I'm going to put it in God's hands," said Smith's aunt Shawna Drake.
Drake said there were many witnesses to the shooting.
"There are so many witnesses. Everybody knows who killed Deontay," Drake said.
Drake said her nephew was a student at Clayton Academy and had once been an honor roll student, but recently started hanging with "the wrong crowd."
Police have not released any information about the possible shooter or a description of the car witnesses reported leaving the scene after the shots were fired.
So far, no arrests have been made.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police.