ST. LOUIS — Half a dozen juveniles have been shot in St. Louis in the first two months of the year, according to 5 On Your Side data. Last year, 18 juveniles died from gunshot wounds.
One area teenager is now changing course after dabbling in criminal activity himself.
Reese Randall, 16, is out of custody on probation following a 2023 armed robbery. Now, he’s on a path to be better.
He believes several factors lure teens into crime.
"The people that they saw growing up, their uncles, dads, older brothers, cousins and everything like that. They could’ve been in the streets and everything so they grew up around it and got accustomed to it,” he said.
"It could be something with their family. They got to provide or peer pressure,” Randall’s cousin, 18-year-old Dominic Tennial, added.
Peer pressure is what led Randall to rob a convenience store in Sunset Hills, he said.
"I got high with someone I knew and did a robbery…. He called me up was like, ‘Hey, do you want to come help me hit this lick real quick?’… I was like, ‘Let's go do it.' We went to the gas station, I walked in. I had the gun in my hand,” he recalled.
He said it was an airsoft gun. Following the crime, he spent a month in a youth detention center.
"That first week when I heard my mom's voice and everything like that and I was talking to her, it just broke me. The pain in her voice. It just hurt and I said, I have to fix this,” Randall said.
Now the teenager has a job and his working to get his G.E.D. He now finds himself encouraging his counterparts not to go down the road he did.
"If you’re going to do something, at least think about the actions that you’re about to take. Not only is that going to affect your family and everything like that but also the people around you outside of family, friends and everything, your future, future job opportunities and everything like that,” he said.
The 16-year-old said while he was behind bars, he found a mentor: an adult who spent time in prison. They made a connection that helped him realize he could be better.