Fresh Start Cut Short

It's as if Aaron Teeter's troubled past on D.C. streets reached out and killed his dreams for the future

Aaron Leon Teeter was struggling to escape his past.

In and out of juvenile detention centers, on probation for a drug conviction, he had at last found direction and purpose through a federal youth program in which he was producing videos railing against gun violence, homelessness and decrepit schools.

Family and friends noticed a difference in him. He dreamed of becoming a video journalist, and he seemed to shun his old way of life, going blocks out of the way to avoid neighborhood turf battles as he traveled to work.

On April 28, Teeter, 19, was slain execution-style in a killing friends, relatives and police attribute to the life on the streets he had tried to abandon. Trying to leave the hustling game can be dangerous, say those who live nearby.

"It's hard to change in the same environment," said Sandra Seegars, advisory neighborhood commission member for the Highlands Dwellings Addition, the Southeast Washington public housing complex where Teeter grew up. "They get mad and jealous. That's enough to kill somebody here."

Home for Aaron Teeter was one of the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods, a place where drug dealers killed one another year after year in fights over turf, community activists say.

Trying to instill a strong work ethic in his sons, Teeter's father, Fred G. Johnson, took Teeter and his half brother to flea markets where they sold DVDs, lotions, shampoo and other sundries.

After Johnson died of lung cancer in 2002, Teeter, then 14, became depressed and angry. His family said he found solace in the streets and began selling drugs. He spent time in juvenile detention centers, Oak Hill in Laurel and the Youth Services Center on Mount Olivet Road NE.

Death struck again in 2004. Teeter was just steps away when one of his best friends, James "J-Rock" Richardson, was fatally shot by another student at Ballou Senior High School.

He dropped out of school his senior year, his family said.

In March 2006, Teeter and three other young men were arrested and charged with dealing heroin near Draper Elementary School, according to court records. Teeter pleaded guilty to drug possession and was sentenced to 18 months' probation.

Determined to help Teeter turn his life around, Teeter's half brother, Deyon Johnson, and a cousin steered him toward the Earth Conservation Corps, the family said. The corps provides training to disadvantaged and troubled District youth, primarily from Wards 6, 7 and 8.