Speaking to Philadelphia Violence Interrupters at the newly launched Peacekeepers Institute. A training program created and led by the Office of Philadelphia Public Safety.

Gun Violence Is Contagious:

What I Learned After Living, and Surviving Its Reality

I didn't start to learn about gun violence in my neighborhood. I was introduced to its reality inside my living room.

I was 14 years old when I was told that my grandfather had been robbed and killed. One year later, my older brother was murdered on a Friday night in October of 1997.

Then it kept going.

My cousin. My friends. Homies I grew up with. Friends I stood on corners with. Childhood neighbors that I played basketball with on Milk Crates, in front of a bar that was known for shootings. (Dooners)

Violence wasn’t random. It was repeating itself.

At the time, I didn’t have the language for what I was experiencing. But today, as a student in the Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy (CVILA), powered by the University of Chicago, I understand it differently.

I would have been identified as “high-risk.”

Not because of one decision, but because of exposure. Because of proximity. Because of patterns.

Everything around me: my environment, my relationships, and my experiences, was increasing the likelihood that I would either become a victim of gun violence or a participant in it.

And eventually, I became both.

At 22, I was shot during a drive-by. The bullet hit my foot, but others on the corner of 32nd and York weren't as blessed.

Less than a year later, I was involved in a shootout outside of a North Philadelphia bar. I shot two individuals. They shot me four times in my chest, shoulder, and back.

I was taken to Temple University Hospital, where I ended up in the same trauma unit as the individuals involved in the shooting.

All of us survived.

But within 24 hours of being released, I was arrested for possession of a firearm.

By that point, I had crossed a line.

I wasn't just experiencing violence I became part of it.

Eight months later, I was indicted by the federal government and sentenced to 240 months in prison.

At the time, I didn’t think of myself as a violent person. But violence had become a part of my life. I remember standing at funerals, looking around, wondering who might one day soon show up to mine.

Today, four years after my release, I am studying Community Violence Intervention. And what I am learning has given language to a life I had already lived.

Gun violence is not just a criminal justice issue. It is a public health crisis .

In simple terms, gun violence is contagious.

At 14 years old, I was exposed to that contagion without even knowing it. Each loss: my grandfather, my brother, my cousin, my friends, was not just an isolated moment. It was part of a cycle that kept repeating itself.

And the truth is, I didn’t just absorb that violence; I helped spread it. Just as it affected me, I affected others.

That is how contagion works.

Before CVILA, I spoke about gun violence in general terms, “root causes,” environment, music, and where we come from. Those things still matter. But now I understand something more precise.

Intervention matters. Timing matters. Presence matters.

What if there had been an intervention after my brother was murdered?

What if someone had met me at the hospital to help instead of investigate?

What if someone had focused on understanding me before building a case against me?

These are the questions I ask now; not to change my past, but to positively impact someone else’s future.

Because I am not just a student.

Today, I serve as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Philadelphia City Council, District 8, under Councilwoman Cindy Bass, and I represent my city in this work through CVILA. I have traveled to Chicago, Los Angeles, and Baltimore, where I have seen community violence intervention strategies in action; approaches that are actively saving lives.

What I’ve learned is this:

Violence spreads. But so does intervention.

The difference is whether we choose to show up on time, with intention, understanding, and resources to cure.

Kenneth Thompson is a current student at The University of Chicago’s Crime Lab — CVILA (Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy. He is also the Published Author of You Can Still Be DAD a coaching book for incarcerated and formally incarcerated fathers.

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