Pastor Rodney Carrier says he can remember when the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood was a bustling area in north St. Louis.
His Deliverance Mission Christian Church is located near the intersection of Vandeventer and St. Louis Avenues.
"Ten years ago it was a thriving community for many business owners and the like," Carrier said.
However, many businesses have closed.
Carrier said rampant drug dealing, shootings and other crimes have ruined the neighborhood.
Just last week he found a man dead from a drug overdose in a parking lot across from his church.
"It's sad because with this powerful drug that they have out here now, you know, it's just crippling the community," Carrier said.
"All the people who stand over there and do drugs at the filling stations, stores all around, I say just clear it up," said Janice Downer, whose relatives live in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood.
In April, police found a man shot to death in the 2800 block of Gamble Street.
Months later, on Aug. 2, a man in his 20s was also shot and killed on Evans Avenue.
And around 4 a.m. Friday, a man was discovered dead of a gunshot to his head on Kennerly Avenue.
ShotSpotter, the gunshot detection system that alerts police, now sits in the street.
"We need to get out and come and make a difference in our community, " said Pastor Rodney Carrier.
Nick Desideri, spokesperson for Mayor Tishaura Jones, said in part: "the city prioritizes all of its neighborhoods and is working to address crime across the city."
Ward 11 Alderwoman Laura Keys represents the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. 5 On Your Side's Robert Townsend called Keys several times on her cellphone to try to get her reaction to residents' concerns about crime, overgrown, vacant lots and other issues. As of Friday night, Alderwoman Keys had not returned the calls.
Meantime, people in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood keep waiting for the violence to stop.
"It makes me want to just leave," Downer said.
As of Friday night, police had not said anything about a suspect or what led to Friday morning's deadly shooting.
So far this year, there have been more than 100 homicides in the city of St. Louis.