Daryl Craig and Curtis Jones Jr. are part of the Blue Coats, a group of men sending the message of hope to Erie youth.

They're committed to keeping kids out of trouble, by mentoring and supporting them, and offering them alternatives to guns, "To know that you can lose your life over a bicycle, trying to hold on to your property is freighting," said Jones Jr. "We're talking about violence but whatever we give attention to just grows. Everybody and everyone in the community who cares, we need to start changing our language and state changing the way we think" Jones added.



And this crime hit close, they knew both the victim and suspect in this case.

Sickened by it all, Craig sends a message he hopes will resonate with the community, "The only thing coming from that lifestyle is jail, institution and death," said Craig. "To anybody that's giving access for a 14-year-old to have a gun shame on you, shame on you! It's the most horrible thing that you can do is to give a child access to a gun," Craig added.