Former Louisville gang member using nonprofit to help city's effort of stopping gun violence

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Metro Police have already responded to more than several dozen homicides just six months into this year. But police are not the only ones trying to stop the city's gun violence problem.

So far in 2023, there have been more than 70 murders, keeping homicide detectives at LMPD busy. But these days, they're getting help from an unlikely source — people who were once part of the problem.

Demetrius McDowell is using his nonprofit, "Bosses not Bangers," to help young people make positive changes in their lives before they end up in a gang like he did when he was a teen. (WDRB photo)

"My first run-in with a gang was, I guess I was 14 years old. ... Bloods out of the Sheppard's Square housing projects, 35th and Broadway," said Demetrius McDowell.

For years, McDowell said, he was part of Louisville's gang problem.

"I guess I claimed Bloods for maybe 20 years," he said.

McDowell said it was actually a family affair.

"My kinfolk were involved in the game," he said. "And when they had, I guess enemies or beefs or whatever, automatically, you joined because your family members are doing (it) ... close, personal friends."

These days, McDowell has a nonprofit and helps other young people make positive changes in their lives before they end up in a gang like he did.

"Statistically, I was supposed to die in the streets," he said. "I come from a single-parent household. My father wasn't around. I went to the penitentiary at 18, had kids out of wedlock, went to the penitentiary two more times after that, and I indulged in gun violence in the streets."

Several years ago, McDowell formed his nonprofit, "Bosses not Bangers."

"It is a proactive way of getting ahead of the problem using entrepreneurship to create responsibility and financial sustainability," he said. "And it just separates the two because a boss has to conduct yourself in a certain type of way. And a gangbanger runs with the influences of a crowd."

While he admits to being part of the problem for years, McDowell now takes pride in being part of the solution.

"I've partnered with the Commonwealth of Kentucky to give services to 20 individuals that otherwise would have went to detention," he said. "It's a diversion to detention."

Meanwhile, city leaders have not shied away from what they believe to be the root cause of some of the violence.

"We definitely have a gang problem here," said Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg. "Roughly 30% of our homicides are group- or gang-related."

With the hot summer days ahead, McDowell has some advice for city leaders.

"Get you someone who has influence in the street, it makes a better message," he said. "That that's passed on to that young person that you want to implement program into."

McDowell believes a lot of the problems start on social media, but often escalate into face-to-face conflicts.

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