ST. LOUIS — Police are working to bring in five teens wanted in connection to a deadly shooting last month in downtown St. Louis. Police say they have identified them, but are not releasing their names.
The shooting happened at a party inside an office building on Washington Avenue. That's where 17-year-old Makao Moore was shot and killed, and 11 others were hurt.
5 On Your Side learned that juvenile courts released two young people police initially arrested following the mass shooting. Now a local group is working to deter young people from even looking at guns.
"It starts with you. If you love you, you can then love you. If you don't love you, how can you love me?" asked Dr. Marty Casey with the Ungun Institute.
She is on a mission in her hometown.
"I've seen the best and I've seen it take a left turn if you will, but I know it's a right way of getting back," she said.
Her plan is to look deeper than the guns and disarm the trauma that leads to violence.
"The most powerful weapon that you have is your mind. It's your mind and the mind tells the body what to do," she said.
It's why drivers will now see two dozen billboards across the Metro area, prompting people to “Stop. Breathe. Think.”
"When we were growing up, they said ‘If ever our bodies catch on fire, to stop drop and roll.’ Well I want you to stop, breathe and think when your brain catches on fire. See, that's the part they didn't teach us," she said.
It comes as police are still looking for several gun-toting teens captured in a photo. The picture has been out there for weeks now. No one has turned them in, although police know exactly who they are. Police also want to talk with one other teen who’s not seen in the photo. All of the young people involved are 16 to 17 years old.
"If we want to take the guns out of their hands, we first have to help them understand they don't need a gun … if I can help you understand the value of self, then surely you'll start to see the value in someone else's life," she said.
Casey said her hope is that billboards may be one of the tools to help stop the bullets.
"I was in so much trauma literally in my mind, in my heart. I almost turned around and I promise you I looked up and that sign was right there and I knew then honest to God that I had to keep going,” said Mary Butler. She lost her teen daughter Spirit Butler to suicide earlier this year.
"It was Dr. Marty who was there for me and helped lift me and got me to the point where I wanted to keep living and help others," she said.