ST. LOUIS — There were more scenes of violence in downtown St. Louis over the weekend.
Right now, police are investigating a large fight that involved teens and guns early Sunday morning. St. Louis Police responded to the call around 1 a.m., but residents said the chaos started earlier.
Videos from Saturday night from Citizens for a Greater Downtown St. Louis showed someone walking down the street with a gun in his hand.
Similar to last weekend, late-night violence seems to be a trend in downtown St. Louis.
With this continuing to happen among teens, it worries many, including former inmate Bobby Bostic.
Bostic was released from prison on Nov. 9, 2022.
He served 27 years of what was supposed to be a 241-year sentence for a crime he committed when he was 16.
Now, Bostic is mentoring young kids and showing them that crime isn't the answer.
"I use my life story as a format for them not to come to prison to not repeat the mistakes that I did," he said.
Bostic knows first-hand how one decision can change your life forever.
"I’m telling you from experience, it’s not the way to go. I’m still on parole, serving 241 years for my crimes at 16 years old. I’m 44 now, so I’m suffering 28 years later from a crime I committed as a child so that’s how crime follows you. It follows your victims too, it doesn’t leave them overnight, it follows them for years and years," he said.
When Bostic was 16 years old, he and an 18-year-old man robbed several individuals in St. Louis, but no one was seriously injured.
In return, Bostic was sentenced to 241 years behind bars.
"Crime don’t pay. No matter how you size it up, it’s either death or jail. That’s no way to have fun," he said.
That's why Bostic has devoted his life to making sure kids don't make the same mistakes he did.
"People don’t understand the up-and-coming generation. Why are these kids so lost, why are they so violent? It’s because of something people don’t understand," he said.
Bostic even wrote a book recently about the younger generation explaining reasons they're rebellious and solutions for the community.
"Most of this generation in one way or another, they felt rejected as kids. Some of us felt this way because we thought no one really loved us when we knew better," he said.
That's why Bostic said the city needs to invest in young people so violent weekends stop happening.
"First of all, we have to tap into them and show them there’s a better way then resolving things from anger and fighting because fighting is going to lead to shooting and shooting is going to lead to killing. This youth just has to be taught that this beef that we have, it's not even worth it," he said.
Around midnight on Mother's Day a video on social media shows a man walking downtown carrying a pistol.
Just an hour later, around 1 a.m., police responded to a large fight with several suspects having guns in the 900 block of Locust.
According to police, the incident involved multiple teenagers ranging from 15 to 17 years old.
Officers responded and dispersed the crowd quickly, but 20 minutes later, police were called about a large crowd returning to the street and fighting again.
While officers were waiting for that crowd to disperse, they heard gunfire coming from the 300 block of Olive. Officers found several victims in two cars with bullet holes.
None of the victims were hit by the bullets and no injuries were reported.
While police are still investigating the incident, Bostic has one piece of advice for those struggling like he was and that's to just walk away.
"If you're sitting in the cell, facing 30 or 40 years or sentenced to 30 to 40 years because you didn't walk away, that's the only thing you're going to be wishing, I should've walked away from that dude. To the youth, please listen to me and the advice that I have because I’m speaking from the heart and through hard experience because crime isn’t the way to go. Let’s find another way," he said.
Bostic said he wants to see more people like him step up and find solutions to ending violent crimes in these younger populations.
He believes people that were once part of the problem can be effective in solving it.
Bostic also wants to remind teens that gun violence won't resolve whatever conflict they're having, but conversations will.