EAST LIBERTY (KDKA) – A teenager was shot and killed just steps away from a church in East Liberty Sunday night.

Now, police are trying to figure out who is responsible.

Just steps away from church, 17-year-old Deontay Smith was shot and killed while walking on North St. Clair Street.

A single rose marks the spot where Smith was shot last night. His aunt, Shana Drake, said Smith’s death was retaliation from a shooting last week.

“Our family knows who did this. So, wherever they are at, they might as well turn themselves in,” Drake said.

Family members said Smith was running with the wrong crowd and had even been previously shot at. They had feared this would happen.

Drake said Smith was trying to get on the right track. He was living in an apartment building with his grandmother, just around the block from where he was shot.

“Deontay was on the honor roll, but he had a lifestyle that was destructive,” Drake said.

Theodore Brown went to school with Smith and said that there is a lot of violence on the streets.

“Two years back, my friend got killed up the street, Daniel. So, I’m still going on with that. And now it’s another friend,” Brown said.

“It’s terrible. And I’m going to pray for the people that shot my nephew and I’m going to pray for their families, because they’re going to need it, and so am I.,” Drake said.

No arrests have been made and Pittsburgh Homicide Detectives are continuing to follow leads.

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