When young people in the St Ann's area of Nottingham awoke on Sunday 10 October to hear of the drive-by shooting of Danielle Beccan the previous night, an estimated 200 were drawn to their youth centre - located just a stone's throw from where the 14-year-old was killed.
As police investigate the shooting, and local residents call for CCTV cameras, the subject of gun-toting gang culture has hit the headlines once again.
The root causes
Research into what drives young people into gangs has so far been patchy, but most people agree that it grows from gaps in young lives.
At the Chase Neighbourhood Centre, located just yards from the site of the murder, there is little time for analysis. Manager Steph Webber is convinced that had the centre not been there, the community would be much less equipped to cope. Here, the needs to meet are immediate and although the grief is tangible, it has to be business as usual.
Turning potential gang leaders into group mentors is key to the centre's role and is one of the biggest success stories of the youth inclusion project that it operates. The mentors are 17- to 22-year-olds who may have been failed by the education system, but who have influence over their peers.
After initial training by Connexions Nottinghamshire, the project gives them money in their pocket for their mentoring work and the status in their community that they yearned for,with the added bonus of a work record.
"Their confidence has improved immeasurably," says Webber. "You can see the change in aspirations."
Testifying to its success is 20-year-old mentor Lynnyal Wright. "It's made me want to become more involved in the community, because they see me as a role model," he says.
The use of positive role models forms part of a project being planned by the Nottingham YMCA-run People's Centre - a short walk from the Chase centre in St Ann's, which is a regeneration area.
The Street Entrepreneurs' Programme is based on the theory that drug-dealing gang leaders and business entrepreneurs have many skills in common.
The project, which is due to start early next year, will focus on 16- to 19-year-olds who have raw entrepreneurial potential. They will be put in touch with successful local businessmen who will act as role models.
Leslie Copeland-Ayoola, head of the YMCA's social and youth inclusion department, says: "If you're from a one-parent family with no father figure and someone takes you under their wing and shows you how to make money, that person becomes your role model."
Alternatives to crime
Showing the young people they can earn a living legally is part of the challenge, he adds. "We're not promising young people it's squeaky-clean at the top of business, but everything we're trying to promote has to be legal and ethical," says Copeland-Ayoola.
Dialogue is another important part of the prevention strategy endorsed by the Urban Nation Youth Forum. The forum was launched three years ago to enable disadvantaged young people to identify issues of concern and solutions.
Its organiser Lyndon Gibson remembers a visit by non-uniformed police officers, who asked the young people what it was about life in their city that scared them most. Fear of being shot because of the part of the city they live in was among the responses.
Territorial rivalry is something being addressed on a multi-agency level in Nottingham. The city's youth service has taken groups of young people from three different parts of Nottingham to Northern Ireland to see for themselves the devastating effects of partisan conflict.
The project, carried out in partnership with voluntary organisations and the Black Police Association, encourages young people to talk about their environment and what it means to them.
Angela Hayes, manager of Nottingham's community, youth and play services, says: "The project helps young people see the sharp end of violence. They could see it from a neutral standpoint, because it wasn't their world.
They came back saying: 'That's really senseless.'"
