The stereotype of some of the things that lead someone into gang violence — teens in impoverished neighborhoods from broken homes or without adult role models — have plenty of real-world examples.
But that wasn’t the case with Elijah Cancer, the founder of one of Albany’s most notorious gangs of this century.
"He posted this on Facebook and said, 'Behind every great man is the great woman that raised him. His mommy,'” says Desiree Ford, Elijah Cancer's mother.
"We had a wonderful relationship. That was my son, my boy,” says Elijah’s father, Isaac Cancer.
Desiree Ford and Isaac Cancer raised their son Elijah in downtown Albany, providing a safe and positive home life.
"I saw him evolve. I saw him grow,” Isaac says. “I saw him deal with peer pressure. I saw him want to be a friend."
It was that peer pressure and those friendships that would eventually take Elijah down a path of violence and crime. He and his friend formed the notorious Albany gang, Original Gangster Killers — or OGK.
"I didn't know nothing about the gang things, but one day he came home with a bloody eye,” Desiree recalls. “I guess a bigger guy tried to take his music box from him. I was like, 'Why didn't you give it to him?' I guess it was a thing down there with the boy that he was hanging with — you gotta fight for what is yours."
Elijah and other OGK members were becoming more powerful in the city — cornering the market on drugs and intimidating other drug dealers with gun violence. That power was becoming dangerous.
"Some of the choices he made weren't good choices based on the way his mother and I brought him up,” Isaac says. “Some people he associated with did some things."
And some of those things inevitably made Elijah a target.
"I heard the gunshots... boom boom boom boom. I thought the whole block had exploded,” Desiree remembers. “I have never seen so much blood. I've never seen no body get shot before — and my son?"
Elijah survived the shooting, but the challenges he faced thanks to his gang life didn’t end there.
Spectrum News explores gun violence in Albany through the Elijah’s experiences. Watch the full story, Under the Gun, Thursday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m., exclusively on Spectrum News.