An Asheville pastor who says he had gang ties as a young man told Fox News Digital that city leaders ignored his decade-long push for a youth gang-prevention program before recent violence rattled the North Carolina tourist city.
Dr. Ronald Gates first brought the proposal to Asheville officials in 2016, urging them to invest in early intervention for children he believes could otherwise be pulled into dangerous groups and retaliatory violence.
The issue has taken on new urgency after a string of retaliatory shootings left two people dead and seven others wounded. City officials have stopped short of calling the violence gang-related, instead describing it as retaliation between groups of friends.
Gates believes that distinction misses the larger problem.
“They did not want to actually acknowledge that it was gang activity,” Gates told Fox News Digital. “They wanted to make sure that they tried to whitewash the narrative as they’re saying that these are just retaliations between individuals.”
Gates is the senior pastor of Greater Works Church of God in Christ. He also serves as a Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office chaplain and describes himself as a community liaison who works with local law enforcement. His work in those roles has heightened his concern about young people drawn to violence by money, territory or a need for belonging.
His proposal centers on Gang Free, a Los Angeles-based program intended to help students in grades four through six understand how gangs recruit children and the consequences of becoming involved.
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Gates learned about the program during a 2016 trip to California and returned determined to bring a similar effort to Asheville before youth violence became more entrenched.
“I said, ‘Man, I’ve got to bring this back to Asheville, North Carolina,’” he recalled.
Over the past decade, Gates said, he has presented the proposal to mayors, city and county managers, police chiefs and sheriff’s officials, urging them to give it a one-year trial.
He questioned why the city had not invested in the program, even temporarily, to see whether it could work locally.
The program, Gates explained, would teach children how gangs operate, including their signs and colors, and explain how older members can use younger people to move drugs, carry weapons or carry out other crimes.
But education alone is not enough, he argued. A prevention model must also provide young people an alternative to the money and status that can make gangs attractive.
“These young men want to help provide for their single mom or their family,” Gates said. “Any money that they can hustle up, they feel like they’re doing something or doing their part.”
Under his proposal, law enforcement officers, mentors and local business owners would work directly with children in their neighborhoods. Along with gang-prevention lessons, the program would provide educational help, mentorship and exposure to entrepreneurship.
Local businesses could show students how they operate and offer a path to earning money legally, Gates said, while the city could help fund stipends or similar opportunities.
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“Now they’re learning how to make honest money, business money, capital, instead of putting their life on the line,” he said.
Gates also has personal reason to believe early intervention can matter.
Growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Gates had gang ties and was loosely associated with the Vice Lords. He credited his father, older brother and sports with keeping him from becoming more deeply involved.
“I thank God that someone intervened,” Gates said.
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That experience shaped his belief that prevention has to begin before children become immersed in street life. Young people without steady father figures or mentors can look to older gang members for guidance and protection, he said, creating an opening for those figures to pressure them into dangerous acts while avoiding the harshest consequences themselves.
“If they would have had the opportunity, a different path, a different choice … could they still be here today?” Gates said, referring to young people caught up in the recent violence.
Gates recalled being told in 2016 that Asheville did not have the kind of gang activity that would warrant the program. He warned at the time that city leaders needed to get ahead of the problem rather than wait for violence to escalate.
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“I said, ‘Give it two years,’” Gates said. “Two years to the year.”
State data shows Asheville reported 42% more violent crimes in 2024 than in 2016, even as its overall crime index fell 8%. The increase was driven largely by aggravated assaults, which rose from 335 to 558, while reported robberies declined. Violent crime peaked in 2022 and fell for two consecutive years, though the 2024 total remained above the city’s 2016 level.
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Fox News Digital has contacted Asheville officials for comment on Gates’ claim that he repeatedly presented the prevention program to city leaders beginning in 2016, whether the city reviewed it and why it was not adopted.
Gates stressed that he was not arguing every violent dispute in Asheville is gang-related. But he said the city should not wait for a formal gang label before acting when young people are caught in cycles of retaliation.
“You have personal disputes,” Gates said. “But then the thrust behind it, the motivation behind it is because, ‘Look here, you spilled some blood. I’m going to spill some blood also.’ And that’s what it has come to.”
For city leaders, the question is not just how a crime is labeled, Gates argued, but whether young people have enough opportunities to avoid the path that can lead to prison or death.
That means practical support long before a shooting, arrest or funeral.
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“The prevention, it works if you put it out there,” he said.
His message to anyone considering retaliation is simple: Speak with an older relative, a business owner or another trusted adult before making a choice that could change or end a life.
“Is it even worth retaliating?” Gates said. “Is it worth losing my life or going to prison for the rest of my life?”
“Let’s use common sense,” he added. “Count up the real costs.”
