David Robinson grew up in Washington D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood where young men often died in street violence. He tried to escape it, but ended up dead at 19. “His killing, still unsolved, is the story of gun violence in Washington”:

“‘I told him, “Guns don’t make you a man!” I told him, “Guns make you a coward!” And he was like, “Unc, man, I know, I know, but these dudes out here, they’re carrying guns, talking about they’re going to do this, they’re going to do that.”

“‘He was like, “Unc, it ain’t safe out here.”‘”