An Arizona social media influencer whose prank-style videos drew millions of views by showing him impersonating workers and disrupting local businesses has pleaded guilty to criminal impersonation.

Heston James Cobb, known online as “Heston James,” entered the plea Friday. According to Tempe police, Cobb and a group of men entered businesses while dressed like employees, moved into staff-only areas and refused to leave after being told to go.

In one widely viewed video, Cobb appeared in a Chipotle Mexican Grill shirt and told workers he planned to “clean house.” Moments later, several men wearing dark shirts streamed into the restaurant and ignored employees’ demands that they leave.

At one point, another man pretending to be a worker was seen wiping down a tabletop with a mop.

Cobb, who was 21 when he was arrested in July 2025, was tied to pranks at Chipotle, Pep Boys, Hyland Auto Repair, Big Brand Tire & Service and Jiffy Lube, police said.

The incidents took place between March and July 2025, with Cobb acting as the “leader” and telling the others to begin “working” after they entered the businesses, according to police.

Videos of the pranks were posted to Cobb’s social media accounts, where they drew millions of views and potentially made large amounts of money, police said.

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Detectives began linking the cases after several of the pranks happened in Tempe in early July. Police eventually identified Cobb as the man behind the Heston James social media accounts.

Cobb was arrested at his home on July 23, 2025. He was booked on one count of third-degree burglary, two counts of criminal impersonation, five counts of disorderly conduct and five counts of criminal trespass.

News Media reached out to Cobb’s attorney, Vicki Lopez, for comment through the Rosenstein Law Group but did not immediately hear back.

Steve Chucri, president of the Arizona Restaurant Association, told The Associated Press he hopes Cobb’s punishment is “severe” enough to discourage others from trying similar stunts.

“There’s no place for it,” Chucri said. “That’s the last thing we need to put up with in the restaurant industry. The amount of money it takes to operate today is expensive.”

Chucri said the association does not offer restaurants formal training or advice on how to deal with social media pranksters, and he hopes it never has to.

“We’re a society of civility,” Chucri said. “We shouldn’t have to.”

Matthew Pittman, a social media professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, told the outlet he hopes Cobb’s arrest reminds influencers that the law still applies when they are creating content.

“So doing something that is illegal in real life would also be illegal on social, even if you are doing it for content,” Pittman said. “This is a clear case of going beyond what the law allows.”

For the first time in years, the Men’s U.S. Open feels genuinely unpredictable. With Jannik Sinner dealing with an injury and Carlos Alcaraz preparing to compete for the first time since April, the door appears wider than usual for an unexpected contender to make a run at Flushing Meadows.

Alcaraz is still the player to beat as he chases a third U.S. Open crown, but oddsmakers are hardly treating him as a runaway favorite. At bet365 Sportsbook, the Spanish star sits at +175, only slightly ahead of French Open champion Alexander Zverev, who is listed at +300.

That relatively tight betting gap between Alcaraz and Zverev is not just about form — it also says plenty about how the U.S. Open draw has shaped up.

Alcaraz has been handed a demanding route to the semifinals, beginning with a potentially uncomfortable first-round matchup against Roman Safiullin. Zverev, by contrast, appears to have landed in a section of the bracket with fewer obvious danger spots.

Behind Zverev, the U.S. Open betting market gets crowded quickly. Five names are packed between +800 and 12/1 odds: Novak Djokovic at +800, Arthur Fils and Rafael Jodar both at 10/1, Ben Shelton at 11/1 and Taylor Fritz at 12/1.

All of those players will fancy their chances to win with Sinner out of the picture and Alcaraz rusty, but each of them has significant questions to answer.

That should make the upcoming fortnight unpredictable, leaving the door open for an outsider to crash the party.

2026 US Open picks

Lorenzo Musetti (100/1, bet365 Sportsbook)

Injuries have derailed Lorenzo Musetti in 2026, but the former World No. 5 seems to be fit and firing after getting to the quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Masters.

If he’s operating at 100 percent, Musetti is absolutely a threat to win this tournament.

The Italian has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve and is a graceful mover, making him both a joy to watch and a chore to play against.

We usually tend to be biased towards big servers at the U.S. Open, but Musetti’s unpredictability makes up for his lack of power.

He made it to the quarterfinals here last year.

Casper Ruud (100/1, DraftKings)

Casper Ruud can be a maddening player to back, but his upside is undeniable.

When he’s up for it, Ruud is a threat to win any tournament, but you just don’t know what you’re going to get from the Norwegian when he steps on the court.

You could get the composed player with a relentless motor that made it to the U.S. Open Final in 2022 or you can get the disinterested version of Ruud that gets bounced in the early rounds.

We’ll hope for the former, as Ruud has a favorable draw in the early chapters of this tournament.

Alexander Bublik (130/1, DraftKings)

Speaking of players who can drive you up a wall, that’s Alexander Bublik’s calling card.

A prodigious server and one of the most talented athletes in this field, Bublik can look like the best player in the world one moment and a country-clubber the next.

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The Kazakh was drawn into Carlos Alcaraz’s half of the bracket, but his path to a potential meeting with Alcaraz is not all that daunting.

We’ll take a huge price on a huge talent here.

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.

Two former Southern California city council members are headed to federal prison after investigators uncovered $62,900 in stolen cash hidden underground in a backyard.

Ricardo Pacheco, 63, of Baldwin Park, and Isaac Jacob Galvan, 39, of Compton, were sentenced Monday to 18 months behind bars each, following a federal undercover operation that exposed their bribery scheme.

According to the Department of Justice, the Los Angeles County politicians took tens of thousands of dollars in illegal payments in exchange for securing support from a police union and helping obtain official city permits tied to marijuana cultivation.

Pacheco, who sat on the Baldwin Park City Council from 1997 until stepping down in 2020 and served as the city’s mayor pro tempore in 2018, was also hit with a $10,000 fine and ordered to forfeit $219,755.

Galvan, who represented Compton on the City Council from 2013 to 2022, received the same prison sentence and was separately ordered to pay $323,557 in restitution.

Pacheco pleaded guilty in June 2020 to one count of federal program bribery. He was busted after accepting a $20,0000 cash bribe from a Baldwin Park Police officer who was secretly working for the FBI.

The undercover cop gave him the bribe in exchange for the councilmember’s political support of the Baldwin Park Police Association’s contract with the city, the DoJ said. 

Pacheco received a total of $37,900 in bribes from the officer from January through October 2018 in exchange for him supporting the Police Association’s contract, which was worth at least $4.4 million over three years. 

In return, Pacheco voted in favor of renewing the contract in March 2018. 

The undercover cop gave Pacheco the $20,000 lump sum in an envelope in a Baldwin Park coffee shop, according to the DoJ. 

He then received a further $17,900 in checks that he told city staff to pay out to his church and fake political action committees he had set up using other people’s names but which he controlled.

In June 2020, Pacheco resigned from his Baldwin Park City Council seat as part of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors. 

He also forfeited $83,145 in cash proceeds seized by the FBI, which included $62,900 that he admitted to burying in two areas of his backyard.

Meanwhile, Pacheco’s co-conspirator Galvan, who took a cut of the bribes, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of federal program bribery and one count of evasion of tax assessment.

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He admitted to paying $70,000 in bribes to Pacheco in exchange for his vote and support for commercial marijuana permits. Galvan also conceded that he failed to report to the IRS more than half a million dollars in income. 

In June 2017, Baldwin Park began permitting the cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of marijuana within its city limits.

Shortly afterwards, Pacheco started soliciting bribes from business owners who were seeking marijuana development agreements and permits in the city. 

In exchange for the shady payments, Pacheco told them he would use his position of power to assist them with obtaining marijuana permits. 

Among the businesses involved were W&F International Corp, a Diamond Bar-based import-export firm. Galvan offered consulting services to the business, then funneled $70,000 in bribes to Pacheco from the owner, Yichang Bai, 52, of Arcadia. 

Pacheco promised to deliver Baldwin Park’s approval of the marijuana permits, which came in the summer of 2018, and also supported W&F’s bid to relocate its business. 

Bai tried to cover their tracks by collecting checks from third parties who owed him money and then giving Galvan these checks with blank payee lines. Galvan then passed these checks on to Pacheco. 

Bai also later funneled $20,000 across seven checks to Pacheco via Galvan as further payment for his votes. 

Galvan also admitted to tax evasion by failing to file federal individual tax returns for the years 2017 through 2020. 

He did this to conceal his ownership and control of a shell company, I&I LLC, which he had been using to solicit bribes for public officials. 

In total, Galvan failed to report an estimated $560,525 in income for the tax years 2017 through 2020, causing a total loss to the US Treasury of $115,816, according to the DoJ. 

Bai pleaded guilty on February 23 to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. 

On July 6, District Judge Otis D. Wright II, who sentenced Pacheco and Galvan, also jailed Bai for 20 months in federal prison and fined him $3,000.

Three Indiana residents accused of looting cemetery mausoleum niches that held cremated remains have been taken into custody after authorities linked them to a string of unsettling thefts across the eastern United States.

Investigators are now calling on families to visit or contact the cemeteries where their relatives are laid to rest, warning that more memorial sites may have been targeted.

In Florida, officials say at least 20 related cases have already been documented.

“But detectives believe there could be many more,” who just don’t realize they’ve been victimized yet, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida wrote in a post on X.

“What a horrible person you are if you decide to steal from the dead,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson said in a video appeal seeking the public’s help in identifying those responsible.

“These three people are going to cemeteries, breaking into deceased people’s niches, and stealing their family heirlooms.”

Within days, Drake Lee Milam, 33, and Angela Garrett, 52, were arrested in Indiana, court records show. And Porsche Bancroft, 32, turned herself in at Florida’s Seminole County Jail.

In court records, Bancroft was identified as the girlfriend of Milam and the daughter of Garrett. Her arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 22 in Sanford, Florida. And a trial has been set for Feb. 8.

Milam and Garrett will be extradited to Florida to face charges, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. But their court documents were not accessible, a representative with the Seminole County Clerk of Court told News Media.

“All three face a variety of charges, including injuring or removing a tomb or monument; disturbing the contents of a grave or tomb; and grand theft over $20,000,” according to a spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.

Cross-country heist

A slew of mausoleum surveillance videos appear to show the trio breaking into glass-front niches, where urns of cremated remains and mementos are displayed, then removing items and strolling out, according to authorities.

“They’ve been everywhere from Oklahoma City to Minnesota to Texas [and] here in Florida,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said. “They visited Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, even so far northeast as to Buffalo, New York.”

The accused grave robbers allegedly traveled through Illinois and New Jersey, too, the sheriff’s office said in an email to News Media.

“Imagine losing your wife or husband and placing their wedding ring, and yours, in the niche – only to have them stolen by thieves looking for an easy payday,” the agency spokesman said. “This will not stand. Not in Florida.”

Florida police reports list a variety of items missing from cemeteries holding great sentimental and monetary value:

A husband reported his late wife’s niche as missing their his-and-hers gold wedding rings and her Class of 1992 ring from Miami Southridge Senior High School. It was silver with a blue stone.

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A wife reported as missing a ring given to her late husband for his 25th anniversary of working for The Walt Disney Co.

A father reported the theft of his daughter’s 1972 class ring with a blue stone.

A wife reported the theft of a 22-inch gold chain with a gold anchor from her late husband’s niche. It had been his wish to be interred with the jewelry, she told police.

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A family reported missing jewelry they’d left with the remains of a beloved wife and mother, including a gold wedding band, two gold earrings, two gold rings and a gold bracelet.

A husband reported the theft of his wife’s platinum-and-diamond wedding ring and a diamond solitaire he’d given her for their engagement.

The wife of the late Charles Taaffe, former offensive coordinator for the University of Central Florida football team, reported his two gold championship rings had been taken from where his remains were interred.

The sheriff’s office is urging people nationwide to check their loved ones’ burial sites to be sure “cherished items” are still there.

In Florida, valuables worth a total of $35,000 have been discovered as being swiped from cemeteries in Orange, Seminole and Hillsborough counties, the spokesperson said.

“But the dollar amount is not what’s important,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson told News Media in an email.

“Having a loved one’s final resting place disturbed and cherished family heirlooms taken is deeply painful, and we recognize that no arrest can undo what these families have experienced.”

Detectives are working to identify more victims.

“If you have a family member resting at a cemetery, take a moment to check their niche and make sure the items you placed with them are still there,” the sheriff’s office wrote on X.

“And if you have information about this case or believe you may be a victim, please contact Central Florida Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS (8477).”

News Media attempted to contact all three defendants. Bancroft said her attorney would provide a statement but it was not received before publication. Garrett and Milam did not respond before publication.

It’s time to stop pushing this.

Put the bullpen sessions on hold.

Skip the simulated games, too.

Shohei Ohtani’s sore left knee and tender right biceps are sending him a clear message, and at this point, the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar needs to pay attention.

The idea of Ohtani pitching again this season has to be set aside.

Ohtani returning to the mound only makes sense if he can be a difference-maker as a pitcher, and what are the chances of that happening now that he’s been scratched from his tentatively scheduled one-inning start on Sunday in Detroit?

As it was, Ohtani already was in a time crunch to prepare himself to be a full-fledged starter by October, manager Dave Roberts admitting that building him up to make a five-inning start in the playoffs would be “aggressive.”

Ohtani is more than a designated hitter, more than a pitcher, and even more than a two-way player.

He’s a game-changer, and the only place in which he can be that for the Dodgers in October is in the batter’s box.

In that case, what’s the point of him pitching, other than that he wants to?

The Dodgers traded for Tarik Skubal so they wouldn’t have to count on Ohtani to pitch, and now that Skubal is here, they might as well take advantage of that and focus Ohtani’s attention to the area in which he could help them most.

Which is on offense.

With Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow as their other starting pitching options, the Dodgers still have a championship-caliber rotation without Ohtani.

What they don’t have at the moment is a World Series offense.

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“I gotta think about what I can do to spur this offense,” Roberts told reporters in Detroit. “I don’t know right now as I sit here. These are our guys that have performed. I believe in them. But I don’t know the answer, as far as making changes and things like that, whether it’s lineup construction.”

The simplest solution would be to get Ohtani back on track.

The Dodgers don’t score when he’s not hitting, a point reinforced on their current roadtrip. With Ohtani batting just .182 on their two-city tour, they have scored a combined 11 runs in five games, of which they have won only one.

“Obviously, where we’re at right now with the pitching, the starting pitching certainly being a strength, his value offensively is hugely important, and so we can’t compromise that in any fashion,” Roberts said. “So, if throwing potentially cuts into that, that’s not worth the squeeze.”

But the Dodgers are extremely mindful of what Ohtani wants, which is understandable considering his oversized economic impact on the franchise. That could explain why Roberts downplayed the degree to which Ohtani’s pregame work as a pitcher was responsible for his offensive downturn.

“Honestly,” Roberts said, “I just think that for me, I think the pitch selection hasn’t been good.”

Roberts could be right.

But what if he’s not?

Ohtani has acknowledged that his knee problems have limited his speed on the basepaths, making it harder for him to properly judge whether he can stretch a single into a double or a double into a triple.

Is it really worth jeopardizing the offensive upside of Ohtani in exchange for having him available to pitch an inning or two as an opener once every postseason series?

Coincidentally or not, Ohtani stopped hitting when he started ramping up as a pitcher. He threw his first bullpen session in three weeks on Aug. 14, and from that point on, he’s batting just .214 with three homers in 14 games.

Compare that to the 31 games that Ohtani played between that bullpen session and his last start as a pitcher. In that period, he batted .301 and homered nine times.

The story of Ohtani’s career is one of defiance. Ohtani became a two-way player in the Japanese league when the consensus was that it was impractical. He continued to play both ways in the major leagues when others said it was impossible.

But Ohtani shouldn’t mistake the situation he is in now with the kind of skepticism he encountered in previous stages of his career. This isn’t about whether he’s capable of hitting and pitching at the same time — he can, and he will have a chance to resume pitching next season.

This is about doing what’s best for him and his team in the limited time that remains this season. This is about him looking at the Dodgers’ roster and figuring out what will be required of him in October and what won’t.

Roger Federer was overcome with emotion as he took his place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, breaking down after a heartfelt introduction from his wife, Mirka.

The Swiss tennis icon became eligible for the prestigious honour this year, four years on from his retirement. His haul of 20 men’s Grand Slam singles titles remains a benchmark surpassed or matched only by his defining rivals, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Federer, 45, was never shy about showing emotion during his glittering playing career, and the moment proved no different in Newport, Rhode Island. As his extraordinary legacy was formally enshrined among the sport’s greats, he struggled at times to get his words out through tears.

Mirka, whom Federer first met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when she was an emerging tennis talent herself, was selected by her husband to welcome him to the stage. She began with a warm joke, recalling that she had been the “older woman” at 21 while Federer was just 18.

“When we met, he had exactly zero ATP titles. Zero,” Mirka said. “Looking back, I suppose I was there for all 103 that followed. We shared quite the journey.”

Although Mirka was a constant presence on the tour and witness to the titanic effort her husband put into becoming one of the greatest of all time, she added that ‘tennis was never what impressed me the most.’

‘The man behind it all is even more remarkable,’ she continued. ‘He’s the most devoted father that our four children could ever ask for.

‘When I found out we were expecting twins for the first time, I told Roger that my traveling days were probably over. Without missing a beat, he said, “I won’t play anymore”. He wasn’t being remanded. He meant it. That’s who Roger is. His family comes first.

‘Fortunately, we found another solution, and that solution involved babies, strollers, toys, books, and eventually two sets of twins traveling all over the world with us. The tennis tour has always been our home. Our children Myla, Charlene, Leo, and Lenny know him as Papa. The Papa who read bedtime stories, played games with them, who ran their bath, who made them laugh, no matter how busy he was. Whether he won or lost, he always made time for them.

‘I know him always as the kind husband, funny, thoughtful, and endlessly supportive. His parents know him as a loving son. His sister knows him as a wonderful brother. And his friends know him as someone who always has time for them, no matter how busy his life becomes.’

There was barely a dry eye in the house – with Federer’s parents both left in tears – as he stepped onto the stage for his own address.

But Federer was the most overcome as he kissed his wife and accepted the trophy commemorating his induction.

The eight-time Wimbledon champion broke down at a number of different points in his speech, including paying tribute to his mentor, six-time Grand Slam champion Stefan Edberg, and his parents Robert and Lynette.

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‘It’s not the first (time),’ he joked as he attempted to pull himself together after calling Edberg his ‘childhood hero’. ‘These are happy tears’.

The tears flowed as Federer paid tribute to his longest-serving coach Severin Luthi, saying that he ‘kept (him) motivated when (he) needed motivating, and protected (him) when (he) needed protecting.’

‘We’ll get through this,’ he said as the crowd attempting to cheer him on after he broke off. ‘Promise. Until the sun rises!’

As tears streamed down his face while paying tribute to how Martina Navratilova had inspired Mirka to start playing tennis, Federer joked that he needed ‘tissues and sunglasses.’

‘I need everything to protect me,’ before saying: ‘Oh God. Oh my God. I’m going to do the Mirka bit. This is such a mess.’

‘As you know, Mirka is my wife, which is the greatest understatement I can make,’ he began. ‘She’s also been my coach, my hitting partner before matches, and my reality check, also my stylist. I definitely needed one at the time.

‘Mirka is the person who showed me how to get more focused about tennis and take joy in everything else. A wonderful mother to our four kids. She and I grab each other’s hands and we run through walls. So she’s all of these things, and that’s my Hall of Fame.’

When able to control his sobbing, the living legend interspersed his learnings from his storied career with witty quips, including the note that the over ‘5,000 headbands’ he had spotted during his career were ‘more than Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe combined’.

But most memorable was his message to players on the tour and future stars, where he encouraged them give back to communities by ‘sharing their passion’, and pushing the game to new heights.

‘We all leave the court eventually, but the sport keeps evolving, and as the pace of professional tennis speeds up, as the sport becomes even more global, I so hope it will keep some of that amateur spirit, keep the camaraderie among the players,’ he said.

‘I hope the players will stay young at heart and stay true to their authentic selves, and always remember: never stop asking questions or taking risks, do things with the game we’ve never seen before. Keep pushing this sport we love to the next level, and keep getting better, better, and better.’

An Asheville pastor who says he was connected to gangs in his youth told News Media that local leaders brushed aside his calls for a youth gang-prevention program for nearly a decade — long before a recent surge of violence unsettled the North Carolina tourist destination.

Dr. Ronald Gates said he first presented the idea to Asheville officials in 2016, pressing the city to fund early intervention efforts for children he fears could be drawn into dangerous groups, cycles of retaliation and escalating violence.

The debate has grown more urgent after a series of retaliatory shootings killed two people and injured seven others. Asheville officials have not labeled the incidents as gang-related, instead characterizing the violence as retaliation involving groups of friends.

Gates argues that description overlooks the deeper threat facing the community.

“They did not want to actually acknowledge that it was gang activity,” Gates told News Media. “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.

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.

“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.

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.

“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.

News Media 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.

“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.”