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It's awful, sad and far too common.

A teenager is murdered. Family and friends grieve. Police hunt for a suspect. Dig deeper, and the stories get darker: gangs, drugs, guns and fear.

Some might say that the Hickory Trails apartment complex near High Point and Hilltop roads was a blight because that's where crime and violence festered. That residents lived there in fear should be an even bigger blight on the conscience of the city.

What happened there -- the shooting death in broad daylight of 16-year-old Breyon Shon Deese -- is unacceptable. Also inexcusable is the neglect by the institutions responsible for the safety and welfare of the residents of this public housing complex.

To hear residents tell it, there were warning signs long before Deese was found shot to death in a wooded area. Five days before, a 7-year-old girl was inside Deese's apartment next to Hickory Trails when she was shot by someone from outside. Long before that, residents said they have had problems with gangs, drugs and gun violence.

The Greensboro Housing Authority bears some responsibility, especially if problems at the complex were really as bad as residents say they were. Housing Authority leaders should be able to recognize problems quickly, or at least have an efficient way to hear from residents, then deal with their concerns. That appears not to have been happening at Hickory Trails.

The Greensboro Police Department bears some responsibility as well. Police Chief Tim Bellamy blamed staffing problems for not assigning a community resource officer to the complex.

These foot-patrol officers get to know residents and their concerns and to deal quickly and effectively with issues before they turn violent. They have been effective elsewhere, and Hickory Trails will get two of them by the middle of next month. That's a strong dose of policing, but they should have been there long before Tuesday's killing.

Hickory Trails residents might bear a bit of blame, too, if they failed to report the crime and violence they saw. The police department says it received no specific reports except for last week's shooting of the 7-year-old girl. Then again, residents may have been too frightened to speak against their neighbors, or they have might given up on seeking help because the police, the Housing Authority and anyone else in a position to help because they believed no one was listening.

The fullest blame in this matter, of course, rests on the shoulders of whoever shot and killed a 16-year-old. The community expects this killer to be brought to justice.

But until then, there's a chance now for police, the community, the Housing Authority and other city agencies to sort fact from rumors and figure out ways to ensure the safety of the residents of Hickory Trails. If everyone can work together to do this, maybe the residents of Hickory Trails no longer will have to live in fear.