From gangster to firefighter

Former Gang member Victor Tovar turned his life around and became a Los Angeles City firefighter. Photo by David Crane/Staff Photographer.

My esteemed colleague Brent Hopkins writes a moving portrait today of a former gangbanger who turned firefighter. Brent writes:

Bullets killed a couple of his friends and paralyzed two more. Plenty more ended up in prison or hyped on heroin.

"I was jacked up," he said. "I had tattoos on my neck and my arms. I was smoking weed every day. My family disowned me. Society disowned me. I felt like I was on my own."

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