We’ve been here before, dealing with the shock and sadness that comes when lives are cut short in the streets by unimaginable violence.

Sometimes these are lives that haven’t really begun yet. Often, the casualties of gun violence in the Mahoning Valley are still kids and almost as often, so are their killers — still in their teens, but already captured by the allure of the streets and seemingly unafraid of that life and the culture of death that comes with it.

A week ago today, a man was ambushed in his car in the parking lot of Hoda’s Tobacco at the corner of Paige Avenue NE and Elm Road. It was just after noon in Warren and the murder took place a few hundred yards from the Warren G. Harding High School campus. There were witnesses, and video of the shooting of Darrell Staggers — the first homicide of the year in Warren — was reportedly caught on security cameras.

But a bloody week was just getting started.

On Wednesday, a juvenile boy was shot to death in the parking lot of the Packard House Apartments on Mahoning Avenue NW. Within hours, Warren police obtained a search warrant and arrested two 18-year-old suspects — Ahaud Duane Lee Johnson and Willis Leroy Smith IV — and both were booked into the Trumbull County jail on murder charges. Johnson previously faced a felony charge in April 2025 after an incident involving gunfire near Paige Avenue and Forest Street.

Warren Municipal Judge Natasha Natale ordered the men jailed without bond at an arraignment hearing Thursday. The name of their alleged victim has not been released.

The second homicide in less than three days in Warren left residents and city and Trumbull County leaders stunned. Family Court Judge David Engler, Juvenile Division Judge Samuel Bluedorn and Warren councilwoman Honeya Price, D-6th Ward, appeared at a news conference Saturday to urge that a summit of educators, law enforcement, social service providers and community groups take place soon.

“I’m angry at the gun violence,” Price said. “An epidemic of gun violence right here, where our kids are selling guns as early as eighth grade.”

She has a right to be upset, Price said the culture of guns and violence has touched her family. She is not alone. Warren has had a generational problem with drugs, guns and violence for many years.

But when the killings begin to stack up like they are, it’s a harsh reminder that we seem to be stuck on a violent treadmill.

Someone is murdered. A family grieves. We wring our hands over the senselessness of the ongoing violence, but it seems like an endless cycle.

The economic and social shifts of the last 50 years produced some young people who clearly do not value life the way those who came before did. If they care about their own lives, why would they care about if anyone else lives or dies?

How can politicians, judges, educators, police, social service organizations and community groups — no matter how well-intentioned — change the way some of our broken kids view their lives? Empathy, compassion, kindness and an appreciation for the value of human life cannot be legislated.

But it can be taught and learned. That’s why parents and students need to be involved in any effort to curb violence involving young people.

Beyond that, accountability is a must for everyone. Too many repeat offenders are back on the street quickly, even after multiple interactions with the justice system. We shouldn’t be waiting for a homicide to take them seriously. We know one of the goals of juvenile justice is not to give up too quickly on a kid who might turn his life around with needed guidance and intervention, but what we’re doing now doesn’t seem to be working.

When kids commit adult crimes — often before they can even legally drive — it is long past time for some parents to be held accountable for what their children do,