“Let’s try and bring peace’: Outreach director hopes to steer Lynn youth away from crime

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LYNN, Mass. — For the last fifteen years, Antonio Gutierrez has been reaching out to at-risk young people in Lynn, trying to steer them away from street life.

“It’s heartbreaking to hear our young people mixed up, they’re getting shot, or just getting mixed up in general,” Gutierrez said.

Today, Antonio is the co-founder of Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy, an organization that’s been serving Lynn for 12 years.

“Guns are not going to go away. The gangs are not going to disappear,” Gutierrez said. “We continue to try to deliver a message: put the guns down. Come talk to us. Let’s try to figure this out. Let’s try to bring peace.”

The message is as simple as the mission, to provide an alternative to the streets.

Lately, there’s been a sense of urgency to the message.

In February, a teen employee was shot at Wendy’s drive-through in Lynn.

On Tuesday, a 15-year-old was shot in a drive-by shooting.

Both victims survived, but for Antonio, it hammers home his message about violence.

“There are only three ways out of it. It’s either jails, death, or you outlive it. You tell me how many actually outlive it,” Gutierrez said.

Antonio is also a survivor. This is his 1994 mugshot from his last arrest for dealing drugs in New York City.

He’s hoping his story will inspire young people today, that there is another way.

“I love my kids that I work with, without them, I’m nothing,” Gutierrez said. “They breathe life into me. And I live for this thing.”

For more information about Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy, call 781.842.4005, or go to their website at www.lysoainc.org.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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