MOLINE, Ill. — In the past month, several teens and young adults have been shot and killed in Rock Island County; now, Moline law enforcement are asking the public for help.
The recent crime has Jabari Jackson turning to his roots. "I've been in the Army for 27 years. I've lost more friends to street violence than I knew directly in the Army," he said.
Jackson has been on three tours in Iraq, but now he has a new call of duty. "I grew up with it and I know the consequences," he said.
Last month, Jackson joined the Moline nonprofit YouthHope as its Outreach Programs Director, to guide at-risk kids in the Quad Cities area. "It goes back to those those four Rs: respect for self, peers, parents, and adults," he said.
Recent gun violence, such as the double homicide that killed two teenagers earlier this month, hits home for Jackson. One of the girls he mentors was recently hit by a stray bullet. "It's a sad thing, because even the other violence, we've had kids here who are related to, or in some way connected to people involved in violence," he explained.
The crime has Moline Police Chief Darren Gault raising concerns. "We can't just arrest to stop this. There has to be some other solution, somewhere in our community or another one, or a cultural revelation that we can get our young people steered away from gun violence," Gault said.
Jackson said older teens are the toughest to help right now. "Sometimes you want to be the toughest man in the room, and it seems like that's the best approach—but we're teaching the kids that there are consequences to those approaches," Jackson said.
Jackson said he wants to build more connections with police departments and schools which can help identify at-risk youth and refer them. "Where we really need help in partnering is, who are the kids that we need to reach?" he said.