K-Gang member Rider leans on a telephone pole in Columbia, Tenn.CLOSER TO HOMENumber of gang-related crimes, both adult and juvenile, reported between 2009-2011Bledsoe: 0Bradley: 19Grundy: 0Marion: 0McMinn: 1Meigs: 0Monroe: 1Polk: 1Rhea: 1Roane: 1Sequatchie: 0Source: TBI.
SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. – A group of young men stand on a street corner, across from the Bransford Youth Center, near a house suspected of being a gang hangout.
“Look to your left. That’s how it all starts,” says Springfield Alderman James Hubbard. “They start hanging on the corner. Usually by 13, they’re schooled by the returning ex-convicts.”
He sighs.
“Those boys right there? Eventually, they’re killing each other.”