Once upon a time, there was a kid in New York. His name was Israel, he was 16 and he was living in the rough areas of Brooklyn. He was poor and was growing up around a lot of violence in the projects where he lived. On the inside, Israel wasn’t very secure. He walked around scared at school and on the streets of what might happen to him that day. Though he was scared on the inside, he put up a tough demeanor on the surface, trying to mask his true emotion on the inside. Israel was tested every day and was constantly in trouble.

Israel hung around some bad influences and often skipped school. His mom was too busy working two jobs trying to support the family, Israel and his little brother Jamie, leaving Israel unchecked most of the time. Him and his friends, Andre and Damien, were hustlers and would try to make money through unethical means. They would sell fake lottery tickets, counterfeit brand name shoes like Jordans, and sometimes do more illegal things like steal catalytic converters from cars.

One day, Israel and his friends were just driving around then saw that there was a classic, third generation mustang parked outside of a restaurant, so they thought to check out its exhaust system for a catalytic converter. Andre got underneath the mustang and saw the converter in the exhaust line. After spotting its location, Israel took out the reciprocating saw from his bag and passed it to Andre, which he used to cut out the catalytic converter from the exhaust line. In less than three minutes, the converter was easily taken out and Israel put it in his bag, after which they quickly left.

The next day was just like any other. They skipped school and drove around the city of Brooklyn seeing what to do. As they were riding around in Andre’s truck, they came to a stop at a local gas station to fill up the tank. Andre stayed outside with his truck to fill it up while Israel and Damien went inside the gas station to buy some chips.

Bang! Bang! As Israel and Damien were paying, they heard awe striking gunshots outside. They looked outside and saw the mustang that they had taken the catalytic converter from the day before. The mustang owner was a member of a gang and had seen Israel and his friends steal a part from his car. He was there with two other members and had shot at Andre since he recognized the truck Israel and his friends left in. Andre had seen the mustang coming as he was pumping gas, and when he saw the driver step out with a gun, he quickly ducked behind his truck’s engine. He took the gun that he was strapped with out, ready to shoot any of the gang members.

Israel and Damien were also each strapped with a gun, and when they understood what had happened, they went outside and shot back at the gang members to help Andre. They used the cars parked in front of the gas station as cover. A shootout had broken out between the gang members and Israel and his friends. Amid the shootout, Damien had been shot during one of the exchanges as he ascended from cover. Israel saw him bleed as blood dripped from his torso. His heart raced. He didn’t know what else to do but to keep shooting. The gang members had the upper hand with their automatic weapons. Eventually, Andre got caught too, exacerbating Israel’s situation.

Finally, the police showed up shortly after. The gang members started shooting at the police, but they were easily neutralized due to low ammunition. One of the gang members were shot, the other two were arrested and later convicted of murder and drug trafficking.

Unfortunately, Israel’s friends didn’t make it, and he was left traumatized and alone as he was incarcerated due to charges of firearm discharge, illegal possession of a firearm, and stealing a catalytic converter, leaving him a convicted felon.