In effort to curb youth gun violence, Fort Worth group provides emotional tools

A fight that led to a double fatal shooting in southwest Arlington left two young adults, 19 and 20, dead and a suspect, 17, behind bars on Saturday in Fort Worth.

A grass-roots group in Tarrant County has spent the past several years trying to tackle violence among teenagers and young adults.

"Now it seems like it's everywhere, It goes from an argument and a fight to somebody losing their life," said Rodney McIntosh, the executive director of Violence, Intervention & Prevention, VIP Fort Worth.

The group is part of an effort called , which is overseen by the United Way of Tarrant County.

mentors young men ages 11 to 29 with the goal of reducing gun violence and gang activity.

"There's a lot of disputes that's happening just with young people having arguments, right? And those arguments turn into active violence. I think the reason being one is we always say guns are so prevalent in the inner city, but secondly, I mean, these young people don't have the proper tools to deal with conflict," said McIntosh. “So the natural response, man, when you don't know how to deal with trauma, fight, flight, or freeze. Most of these young people fighting for them is now engaging in gun violence."

He said they offer life skill classes to help the youth learn how to deal with conflict.

"A lot of times we talk emotional intelligence with young men, de-escalation and conflict resolution, like making sure they understand that a gun does not have to be your first response to conflict," explained McIntosh. "But we also talk trauma. Like, we have to actually, you know, deal with the pain that's inside. Because a lot of times these young people are lashing out."

He said by having a space for young people to express frustration, it prevents them from keeping emotions bottled up.

“Emotional intelligence is just not high, and I don't say that in a sense to demean our young men, because I love them. That's why I do the work. I'm saying, honestly, man, I think we have to find a way, if it's in schools, because we don't have these type of conversations, right? We have classes for college prep and all the, how many schools actually offer courses to young people, where they can walk in the classroom and sit down and then we talk about trauma and emotional intelligence? Dealing with those things that are in you and those things that cause you pain and that cause you to lash out the way they do," explained McIntosh.

It's all personal for McIntosh, who is originally from Fort Worth in the Stop Six area.

“I always tell people, man, I'm not, you know, I'm not proud of the life I lived, but I'm grateful that God gave me a way to use it to be a benefit to my city," said McIntosh, who is a former gang member.

He said everyone who works for VIP Fort Worth has either been incarcerated or part of a gang. He said it's an effective tool to help relate to young people and show them the path they don't want to go down.

"We're trying to allow young people to become who we are right now. Instead of having to go through these ups and downs of this gang life and dying early," said McIntosh.