Thirty years before Julius Thibodeaux became the leader of Sacramento's controversial new anti-gun violence program, Advance Peace, he was a shooter himself.
He pulled the trigger on his first victim when he was 15 — over a $5 dispute.
Now, he has been hired by the city of Sacramento to run Advance Peace as it expands here. The program matches dangerous young people with elders who have lived similar lives. Often felons like Thibodeaux, these mentors have criminal infamy that still carries enough weight on the street to give them credibility with kids caught up in this generation of violence. Their previous lives also offer insights into why the cycle of petty beefs and paybacks still holds sway.
"This is not the fluffy part of youth development," said Khaalid Muttaqi, director of the city's Office of Violence Prevention, which works closely with Advance Peace. "This is going into the eye of the storm."
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