Former gang leader wants violence to stop

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After years in the justice system and being a part of one of Jacksonville’s most violent gangs, a former leader of that gang wants the violence to stop.

Though we're not using his name to protect his identity, the man we're calling T.C. knows just how big a problem the city is facing.

In the late 1990s, T.C. said he started a local gang with about 10 members, but today that number is in the hundreds. Police have tied the gang to murder and drug trafficking and, according to T.C., they are now recruiting children as young as 11 years old to be killers. 

"(They’re) under 11 years old, and these are the ones that will just walk up to you and boom, and be done with it," T.C. said. "The younger the kids, the more deadly. They feel like if a young person kills someone, that kid won't get the life sentence, they'll have another chance on the street. But once you grow up and get old, it doesn't make sense to kill someone because you can get a life sentence or death." 

T.C. said gang members are preying on kids who have personality and charisma, a different approach than what he experienced in the late 1990s. He said he joined a gang because he was tired of getting beat up after school and his gang friends were the only ones who protected him.

"They told me, 'The next time they put their hands on you, just let us know.' So it went from them jumping me, to us jumping them, to them shooting at us and us shooting at them. Them killing our people and us killing them."

T.C. said there are more than 50 active gangs in Jacksonville, with thousands of active members on the streets and in jail. He said the gang activity in Jacksonville has exploded to the point that parents are paying known gang members cash to take their crimes somewhere else.

“You've got parents paying for gang members to take their gang activity, not on their block, but around the corner," T.C. said.

He said recent victims of violent crimes used to be friends of his, but only a few of his friends are still alive or no longer in jail. After serving time in prison himself, T.C. said he made up his mind to walk away from the life of drugs, guns and death.

"I told myself, enough is enough. I've seen innocent blood get spilled too many times. I mean, me labeled as a gang member, the blood is on my hands even though I wasn't there. It will eat at you," T.C. said.

According to T.C., one of the pivotal points in his teenage life was when the Boys and Girls Clubs shut down in his neighborhood, leaving countless kids with nothing to do. He said awareness is the answer and it's never too early to talk to your kids.

“To me, I don't think it will ever stop. It's going to explode 10 times harder because of the retaliation factor. They kill us, we're going to kill you back. You shoot my house I'm going to shoot your mama’s house. If you have someone in prison, I'm going to kill them," said T.C.
 


About the Author:

Tarik anchors the 4, 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. weekday newscasts and reports with the I-TEAM.