Pastor fired up over rampant gun violence in N. Charleston

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - It may have been a small gathering, but it was a passionate one at a North Charleston church on Friday, organized by a pastor who has been ministering to incarcerated men for almost three decades.

"I've been doing prison ministry for 26 years, and I get tired of seeing young men, both colored and Caucasian, incarcerated," says Pastor Vanderbilt Evans. "How do you change their mindset?"

Carolyn Evans says she doesn't have any answers, but she says she made it a point to stop by the rally with her four boys.

"You have to make sure you are a leader for your brothers. Whatever your brothers see you do, they are going to do…I try to make sure he keeps himself up to par."

While some young men and women listened from the convenience store next door, Amore Evans was the lone teenager who took part in the "Stop the Killing" rally. Evans says that's part of the problem. He says he hopes more men will step up as mentors to help the city get a handle on the rampant gun violence.

"You live in this community. I live in this community, and I believe everybody in this community should be concerned about the community they live in. It may not affect you right now, but at some point in time it is going to come to your door."

"My heart breaks," says 15-year-old Amore Evans. "This is my home. These are my people. These are the people I care for. When I see people killing one another, it just upsets me."

There have been 30 shootings and ten murders in North Charleston so far this year.