Anti-gang advocate Kal Dosanjh says he is grieving after two teenagers were killed in a gang-style hit Sunday night.
Dosanjh is a former police officer who is on the board of KidsPlay, a non-profit that aims to keep children and youth away from gangs, drugs, and violence.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!
He says one of the teens killed Sunday was a boy he had once mentored.
Three years ago, he says, the child’s mom reached out to him asking for help, concerned she may lose her child to the dangerous influences around him.
For a few years, the program was able to help keep him on the right track.
“He would participate in our programs regularly, in some cases as a ref, a coach, a mentor in various capacities,” he said.
“He was tutoring kids, he was helping with art therapy. He was playing soccer with them, he was playing basketball with them.”
However, Dosanjh says, they lost him to “false promises wrapped in money, status, and belonging.”
“He could see that his mom was struggling financially,” he said.
“They probably offered him some financial incentives, probably gave him straight cash for running the drug lines, and that’s the path he ended up choosing.”
Dosanjh says he was a good kid, and this loss hurts him deeply.
“I think there’s a general public misconception out there that these are all devious gangsters,” he said.
“They weren’t born that way.”
The teen has not been identified, but he was one of two who were killed in a shooting Sunday in a townhouse complex on 133B Street.
— With files from Dean Recksiedler