9/24/2025
A “violence interrupter” working with CeaseFire Chicago has been sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for a string of violent and brazen carjackings that left one victim shot and others threatened at gunpoint.
The first carjacking occurred in the drive-thru lane of a Dunkin’ Donuts. Jamari Edwards got into the passenger seat of a man’s car, pointed a gun, and ordered him out. As the victim walked away, prosecutors said, Edwards asked the victim why he was not scared, then shot him in the leg. Moments later, Edwards circled back, frisked the wounded man at gunpoint, and took his wallet and phone before driving off in the victim’s car.
Two days later, Edwards confronted another driver outside a gas station convenience store. He pressed a gun into the man’s back then frisked him for valuables and the keys to the vehicle.
Later that same week, Edwards and an accomplice targeted a woman sitting in the driver’s seat at the same gas station. Edwards pointed a gun at her head and told her to get out of the car before he would blow her brains out. When she hesitated, he yanked her out by her necklace stealing her purse, wallet, and phone, then fled in her car.
It was also noted during the court proceedings that Edwards worked with the anti-violence group CeaseFire as a “violence interrupter,” which is described as an organization “dedicated to stemming the violence that permeates through certain portions of Chicago.”
Over the past few years, numerous employees of CeaseFire and other similar organizations have been arrested and/or fired after being accused of violent crimes across the city. Just within the past few days, Illinois Governor Pritzker was pictured with a “peacekeeper” who at the time was wanted in four states on active criminal warrants and shortly before the individual allegedly participated in a fatal smash-and-grab burglary. Also, three workers, who supposedly worked to end gun violence in Chicago, were charged with illegally carrying guns while they were already on bond for other felony gun cases. One of the men’s cases included allegations that he shot at two people.
This is not an issue unique to Chicago as similar stories echo among “violence interrupters” in other cities like Minneapolis where two workers with 21 Days of Peace were recently arrested in relation to a shooting that occurred in March, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota. NRA-ILA reported on more of these instances here: Delusional City Leadership – Criminals Are Making Our Cities Safer!
Beyond that, the ongoing political in-fighting over funding and oversight is further unraveling the scheme, including in Minneapolis and the District of Columbia.
https://www.shootingnewsweekly.com/gun-nation/another-chicago-violence-interruptors-violent-career-interrupted-by-a-long-prison-sentence/
1/11/2024
A Bronx anti-gun violence director who was trafficking narcotics on the side was sentenced Thursday in Goshen to 10 years in prison after admitting to a secret double life. Michael Rodriguez, 49, was the head of Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence when he was arrested by law enforcement in Orange County in July – just days after an interview with News 12 The Bronx in which he spoke about “bringing peace to the community” during an event for at-risk youth.
“It’s ironic someone who is an advocate against gun violence ends up getting arrested for having two guns in his house and is part of a major distribution drug ring,” said Judge Craig Brown during the sentencing. Rodriguez was busted under a multiagency sweep dubbed “Operation Hide in Plain Sight,” that rounded up 14 other defendants who Rodriguez is accused of supplying fentanyl-laced drugs. Officials say Rodriguez agreed to forfeit the proceeds of the drug ring – a car and cash - as part of a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and criminal possession of a controlled substance in October and will serve five years' post-release supervision when he’s released from prison.
More Upstanding Members of AntiViolence Group
The ex-con who was busted last month on gun and drug charges in a Big Apple subway station works for a taxpayer-funded anti-violence organization that deals with youngsters in the Bronx, law enforcement sources said.
Jermaine Greene — a member of Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence, which advocates for safer communities — was allegedly carrying a loaded ghost gun and a bunch of drugs when police say he tried to slip through an emergency exit at the Fordham Road station in the Bronx on March 28.
When officers stopped the 42-year-old, they found him with a 9mm Polymer80 gun with a dozen live rounds in his waistband, police alleged at the time.
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