When Shootings Erupt, These Moms, Pastors And Neighbors Step In To Diffuse Tension
The community members known as "violence interrupters," can play a vital role diffusing potential gun violence retaliation in neighborhoods that don't trust police.
The Red Fern Public Houses in Far Rockaway, Queens, generate all kinds of memories for Queen Arroyo and what it meant to grow up here, few of them good.
"The poverty. The pissy elevators. The pissy staircases. The violence," she says, her voice trailing off.
All she could ever think about was leaving. And she did for a time. But her mother still lived here. So did friends. The pull of family and community drew her back two years ago, she says, this time with a purpose to help change what drove her away.
"It was homicide after homicide," Arroyo says. "Yeah, that was it
