Motive WBEZ Chicago

Former gang members are out on Chicago’s streets trying to slow the relentless violence. A man shot 11 times hides with his kids at home.

Sirenzo Strong spends his work days trying to talk to gang members in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood. Part of his turf is the site of a former housing complex, Rockwell Gardens. When former residents return to the old neighborhood, so do the old gang allegiances and grudges.

Gunshot victim Joey struggles to get police to arrest the man he believes seriously wounded him and killed his neighbor. Meanwhile, low-pay and job insecurity make it harder for anti-violence workers to do their jobs and build a life for themselves.

The gang murder of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams shook Chicago and affected many of the anti-violence workers on the West Side. As former gang members they sympathized with Jaslyn’s dad, Jontae, his desire to spend time with his daughter and how that put her at risk of violence. Jontae still struggles with the guilt. And when he decided to help police catch his daughter’s killers his gang friends turned on him.
**Content warning: This episode contains uses of the n-word.

A 14-year-old boy whose father was wounded in a gang shooting faces down threats of violence and the temptations of joining a gang. Meanwhile, a person who killed one woman and wounded another will avoid criminal charges.

Anti-violence worker Cecilia Mannion confronts her desire for revenge after the car her kids are riding in is shot up 20 times. Meanwhile outreach workers in Garfield Park are trying to slow a string of shootings stemming from the theft of an $8,000 necklace. And Joey finally goes to the police station to make an identification, but there are problems.