While he insisted on the cloak of anonymity, his words came through in searing candor.

"If you go out there thinking you can't be touched ... you will be touched."

He did allow that he is 19 years old. His neighborhood is too dangerous for him to speak openly, he said, a sentiment viscerally attested to by the wreath that stood on the sidewalk a few paces away.

At that spot, near the corner of McDonald Avenue and Third Street, 54-year-old Manuel Lopez was beaten to death by two teenagers in broad daylight on Jan. 19.

As the young man spoke under a gray sky and light drizzle, area religious leaders were going door-to-door during their Feb. 27 peace march against violence.

No one is above the perils of neighborhood violence, he said.

“If you go out there thinking that you are number one and you can’t be touched, you will be touched,” he said, using the common street slang for being hit with gunfire.

The curbside memorial to a man beaten to death weeks before on the sidewalk near the interview.

“This shows that good people are ready to make a stand,” said Minister James Jones of Church of the Living God, one of roughly 80 area congregations involved in the anti-violence events. “The only way that this violence can continue is if good people do nothing.”

Pastor Charles Jones of Open Door Philadelphia Church of God in Christ strode and sang in the middle of the marching throng that traveled from City Hall to New Gethsemane at 2100 Roosevelt Avenue. The church was the site of a Feb. 14 shooting during prayer service. The attack prompted the largest anti-violence collaboration of area churches that anyone could remember.

“This is the most blessed event that can happen in Richmond,” Jones said.

Church and civic leaders – Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Council members Maria Viramontes, Nat Bates, Ludmyrna Lopez and Jeff Ritterman all marched with residents and clergy from City Hall to New Gethsemane Church Saturday – hailed the event, which capped two weeks of activism.

But top leaders also agree that the energy must be sustained to make lasting changes.

“The follow up to this: we’re planning to bring an urban conference here from our national church and we’re going to launch the Presiding Bishops Urban Initiative, and that national conference is going to be held right here in Richmond,” said Bishop J.W. Macklin, a leader within the Pentecostal system that encompasses New Gethsemane. “We’re coming back here and we plan to see this continue. And I believe this city is going to turn around.”

Many residents and civic leaders quietly acknowledge that a faith-based push to restore peace on the streets may be increasingly important. Homicides spiked dramatically in 2009 over the year before, and local public safety, recreation and education budgets are forecast to continue to be tight following two consecutive years of budget cuts.

“The place where we can make the biggest gains and the biggest difference in preventing and reducing crime is with the residents of the neighborhoods,” said Richmond Police Captain Allwyn Brown, who looked on during the rally at City Hall. “This shows me that people are ready to step up and take an active roll in making things get better. The people, in the crime prevention puzzle, are the most important piece.”

The target: local violence that has claimed at least 54 lives since Jan. 1, 2009, and jolted the city Feb. 14 when three youths opened fire in a local church.

Today’s demonstrations began at 11 a.m., with seven minutes of simultaneous prayer at 210 street corners throughout the city.

Later, residents and local church and civic leaders converged on the Civic Center, where speakers, music and social service vendors were on hand.

From there, police cordoned off roadways for the marchers, as up to 1,000 walked from the Civic Center, across 23rd Street, and to New Gethsemane church at the corner of 21st Street and Roosevelt Avenue.

“It was a rainbow out there today,” said Rev. Andre Shumake, one of the organizers. “It was reflective of what Richmond is, and it planted a seed that we will continue to nurture.”

In a gesture to symbolize solidarity against violence and nonviolent protection of a house of worship, the demonstrators then linked hands, creating a human circle around one square block surrounding the church.

Civic leaders including Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Council members Maria Viramontes, Nat Bates and Jeff Ritterman participated.

“I think people from all over the Bay Area came to make a statement and to say no we won’t be silent, we are going to stand up, we are going to make this known,” said Bishop J.W. Macklin, one of the leaders of the two-week schedule of peace events that has drawn support from more than 80 area churches. “That there is one voice, one hope, one city and we are going to make this work.”

“We are going to assemble on 210 street corners and pray with one voice,” said Rev. Andre Shumake, one of the leaders of a two-plus week series of rallies, marches and prayers prompted by a Feb. 14 shooting in a local church.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, leaders from about 80 area churches plan to pray with thousands of residents at 210 separate street corners throughout the city. The “Lord spare the city” prayer will last for seven minutes, Schumake said.

At noon, the pastors – who have received logistical helps from local government emergency funds – will lead a peace march of five-blocks from the Civic Center to 21st Street and Roosevelt Avenue.

Once there, the plan is to link more than 3,000 hands in a human chain that extends to New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ, which was the scene of the Feb. 14 shooting that left two injured.

At 1:30 p.m., the grand finale will be a mass rally and symposium at the Richmond Civic Auditorium.

Civic leaders and community members have hailed the outpouring as a sign of the community’s renewed vigilance to reduce crime, particularly after homicide number spiked dramatically last year.

For more information, including times and each of the 210 prayer locations, click on www.operationrichmond.org

The rest of the gray areas in Mark Wassberg’s memory are colored in by the images on his camera’s flip screen.

He waited on a dark street that night, sitting in his ‘66 Chevy Pickup, ear tuned to the squawks of his police scanner. Waiting for action. The next take in his reel.

But this time he needed no directions. The action came to him.

“It was just like pow, pow, pow, pow, maybe like 10 shots real fast, like automatic,” Wassberg said in a frantic staccato that suggested the event moments before, instead of nearly 5 years ago. “I ducked down real fast man in my truck, I was really scared that time.”

Wassberg has been gathering images from Richmond crime scenes since 2005.

Minutes later, police raced past, and Wassberg tailed them to the scene at Sixth Street and Chanslor Avenue.

“I got there, man, and he was already gone,” Wassberg said of the shooter. He didn’t have the victim’s name, but described him as in his mid-20s. “He was laying in the street and his mom was already out there crying. I got footage of everything.”

On Tuesday, the unemployed auto mechanic was in the streets again, this time showing his macabre footage under a gleaming lampost in the parking lot of a North Richmond Walgreen’s.

Wassberg, 53, is a Richmond High School graduate, class of 1975. He still has that ‘66 Chevy, but mechanical and financial setbacks mean it now serves as his home more than his mode of transportation. He scrapes together cash by gathering recyclables.

Wassberg sees himself as Richmond’s prodigal-son-to-be, a self-taught documentary filmmaker who hopes to parlay his unvarnished street reels into Hollywood fame.

“This is history, man, I’m the only one that’s doing this,” said Wassberg, who is stocky and hyperkinetic, with a heavy tuft of gray-flecked, curly brown hair. “I could make millions.”

Wassberg seems relatively uninterested in more subtle storytelling techniques for portraying his town. He talks in terms of images and shock value, not the usual Hollywood themes of struggle, redemption and rebirth. Introspection can be done better by someone else, he suggests in a roundabout way (“I don’t know why this stuff happens?”). To hear Wassberg tell it, Richmond’s streets are gripped in grim chaos, a nihilistic dystopia teetering on the edge of collapse.

Cinema vérité unfettered by nuance.

“It’s an adrenaline rush, yeah,” he blurted while fast-forwarding through footage, fishing for the next ghastly scene. “I love to be where the action’s at.”

Fiddling with his hand-held video camera and a slew of tapes he shoulders around in a dingy backpack, Wassberg reveals stark images of bodies and yellow police tape, the scenes soaked in the reds and blues of streaking police-siren lights. It’s the jolting immediacy of a television news flash, again and again. The ethos of the streets, writ large and one-dimensional, in glaring shades. He estimates he has more than 10 hours of “quality footage.”

“I just need to get at a steady work station, work with Final Cut Pro,” he said, referring to the popular movie-making computer software.

Most of the footage was captured during late-night forays with a police scanner and video camera. Wassberg said he’s been on a few ride-alongs with local police, but the department won’t give him any more access.

Wassberg knows his curbside, siren-chasing reportage blurs the line between unsparing realism and unfeeling sensationalism.

“I’m a filmmaker, and this stuff is off the hook,” he said.

Meanwhile, Richmond residents and leaders struggle to keep violence at bay. Last year, 47 homicides were recorded in the city.

Wassberg said he is nearly finished gathering video, and wants to focus on the editing process. On Saturday he plans to film a local march against violence, an event prompted by a Feb. 14 shooting in a local church.

“I just roamed 24-7,” he said. “And I got what nobody else got.”

They focused on 23 of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods. They delivered bundles of Bibles along with health, education and public resource literature door-to-door at apartments and homes.

They also clasped hands with residents and led them in prayers.

Rev. Andre Shumake, one of the event’s organizers, estimated that volunteers made contact with about 3,500 households Saturday.

The event was in response to a Feb. 14 church shooting that shook the community and drew national attention.

On Saturday, their message met the streets.

More than 300 black men simultaneously fanned out in small teams, canvassing 23 of the city’s poorest and most violent neighborhoods. They delivered bundles of Bibles along with health, education and public resource literature door-to-door at apartments and homes. Rev. Andre Shumake, one of the event’s organizers, estimated that volunteers made contact with about 3,500 households.

County supervisor candidate Mister Phillips, right, greets Richmond City Councilman Nat Bates.

The event began with a prayer breakfast and organizing meeting at Dejean Middle School on the 3400 block of McDonald Avenue.

The impetus for the anti-violence campaign, which culminates next Saturday with an afternoon community fair at the Civic Center, was the Feb. 14 shooting at New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ. Three men walked in during a service, sought out targets, and opened fire, according to police. A 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were wounded.

The City Council last week unanimously adopted an emergency measure freeing up to $10,000 to provide fliers and logistical support for the actions.

Bishop J.W. Macklin, a leader within the Pentecostal system that includes the local church where the Feb. 14 shooting occurred, implored the crowd of more than 300 to impose their will for peace on their streets.

“To see you all here today tells me that we’re in the right place, at the right time, and we’re doing the right thing,” Macklin said, drawing strong applause.

Macklin later introduced a guest speaker, Rev. Michael Hill, who traveled to Saturday’s march from his church in Dearborn, MI. Hill spoke for more than 10 minutes on topics ranging from dietary habits to what he characterized as a desperate need in communities for grassroots action.

The series of events planned over the next two weeks represent a critical juncture, Hill said.

“We must leave from here today and be successful, because if we’re not successful, all of this is in vain,” Hill said.

Councilman Nat Bates attended the event, as did Councilwoman Maria Viramontes. Bates said he was pleased to see the black churches in the area play an assertive public role.

“The crisis that we’re facing right now can’t be solved by just law enforcement,” Bates said of violence that has claimed 54 lives in Richmond since Jan. 1, 2009. “It requires community involvement and support, and it’s just beautiful that we’ve got so many individuals here willing to step up and support.”

Some of the attendees Saturday expressed frustration with what they called the inaction of various government agencies and disproportionately negative and violence-centered coverage of Richmond by area media.

“I think it’s a great turnout, I think it’s a necessary turnout, but I’m wondering, where’s the press?” said Bishop Frank Pinkard of Evergreen Church in Oakland. “If something negative had happened, the press would be here. But when there is an effort on the part of the community to pull itself together … the press doesn’t seem to be interested.”

Shumake said the 23 targeted neighborhoods were selected with a purpose.

“We wanted to go into the neighborhoods, let these men make an appearance, because we didn’t want the women to have to do what the men haven’t done,” Shumake said. “Young men need to see other men reaching out to them in a positive way.”

Rev. Raymond Landry praying with a woman at the St. Johns Apartment Complex.

Once out on the streets, the teams of men passed out paperback Bibles and other literature and joined people who agreed in hands-clasped prayer.

Pastor Raymond Landry of Independent Community Church led his team through the St. Johns Apartments on the 100 block of McDonald Avenue.

Residents at the complex, ringed with a black iron gate and sitting just East of Chevron Corp.’s refinery facility, were consistently receptive to the outreach.

Landry said the complex and the larger downtown neighborhood were particularly important places to visit.

“Since 1980, there’s been hundreds of murders in the city of Richmond,” Landry said. “Many of them took place right here.”

For further information about the anti-violence events and the upcoming schedule, visit www.operationrichmond.org

But it was a non-deadly outburst of violence earlier this month, inside the walls of a local church during prayer services, that prompted local religious and civil leaders to coalesce behind action.

“We’ve been feeling our young people’s pain on the streets of this city,” said Rev. Andre Schumake, president of the Richmond Improvement Association. “And now we’re having a spiritual explosion.”

On Feb. 14, three gunmen walked into New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ, sought out targets, and opened fire, according to police. A 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were wounded.

The brazen act drew national media attention and the focus of the local community. Now, religious and civic leaders are set to embark upon a two-week schedule of public outreach, mass prayer, rallies and symposiums in opposition to violence.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted an emergency measure freeing up to $10,000 to provide fliers and logistical support for the actions.

The events begin Saturday, with a 9 a.m. prayer breakfast at DeJean Middle School, followed by leaders and volunteers dispersing throughout the city’s Iron Triangle neighborhoods. Schumake said he expects 500 people to knock on 3,000 doors Saturday, where they will pass out anti-violence and community resource literature and converse with residents about their concerns.

“I believe that God is using Richmond as our proving ground where men of faith can come together across denominational lines,” Schumake said. More than 80 local churches will be involved in the upcoming events, Schumake said.

The remainder of the schedule includes:

- More door-to-door work on Sunday.

- Simultaneous prayer circles on 210 street corners at 11 a.m on March 6.

- A mass rally at noon on March 6 at New Gethsemane Church.

- A health, education and employment fair at the Civic Center also on March 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, public support was not unanimous. Jerome Smith, a Roman Catholic chaplain, objected to city government support.

“Let the secular be secular, and let the faith-based be faith-based,” he said.

But the Council and other religious leaders were not persuaded.

“This is where we’re drawing the line,” said Councilwoman Maria Viramontes.

Councilman Nat Bates, the lone black member of the council, said the diverse city was united in its concern over ongoing violence.

“This is not just an African-American problem,” Bates said. “This extends throughout the city.”

Of the 47 homicides recorded in Richmond in 2009, 34 were black and 13 were Latino, according to police records.

The veteran Richmond police officer responded to a 911 call reporting a possible assault in October 2008. Moments later, he lost control of his police cruiser, slamming sideways into a light pole.

Moody, a 29-year-old father of two, was killed. His beloved police dog, Rico, was injured, but survived.

At a packed City Council meeting Tuesday, in front of dozens of friends, family and uniformed comrades, the Council unanimously approved a resolution naming the yet-to-be-constructed Marina Bay Parkway underpass after the fallen officer.

“Richmond has once again lost one of its heroes,” said Sgt. Tod Opdyke, who delivered an emotional plea to the council before it adopted the resolution.

Sgt. Tod Opdyke addressing the council.

The underpass will be named the “Officer Bradley A. Moody Memorial Underpass.”

The resolution was supported by the Marina Bay Neighborhood Council, the Richmond Redevolopment Agency, Police Chief Chris Magnus and the Recreation and Parks Commission. The resolution was brought before the city’s legislative body by Councilman Jim Rogers.

Moody joined the department in 2000. He was kept on life-support so that his organs could be donated. A memorial still marks the spot where he was killed, said Councilwoman Maria Viramontes, who lives nearby.

A procession of residents and colleagues spoke in favor of the resolution, many reciting personal memories of Moody. When the resolution was adopted, the council chamber erupted into cheers. Moody’s widow, on hand with her two young children, held her hands to her face, then embraced friends and family.

Former Councilman John Marquez remembered Moody as a “gentle” man who gave presentations to local schoolchildren with the help of his canine sidekick.

“He was always smiling,” Marquez said.

More information and photographs are available at this family memorial site for Officer Moody and also at this city memorial site.

“We are very concerned about the brazen level of these daytime attacks, it’s a serious concern,” said Sgt. Bisa French.

On Sunday, three gunmen wearing black hooded-sweatshirts walked into the New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ, looked around, and then began shooting. A 14-year-old boy and 19-year-old man were wounded, French said.

Four days earlier, 23-year-old Richmond resident Sharanda Thomas, six-months pregnant and the mother of two other young children, was killed when assailants fired into her parked car in the 900 block of Seventh Street, French said. A male passenger in Thomas’ car was also critically wounded, but is expected to survive.

French said the city’s ShotSpotter System, an electronic shot-detection system, indicated more than 20 gunshots in the mid-day drive-by shooting.

Thomas was shot “several” times, French said.

French said police have made no arrests and have not established a motive, but are seeking four black males in a silver or gray Chevrolet HHR, a compact sport-utility-vehicle.

French said it is unknown whether either attack was gang related or retaliation for prior violence.

The city has recorded seven homicides thus far this year. In 2009, 47 homicides were recorded in Richmond, a 74 percent increase over 2008.

“We are pretty much on par with what we had last year by this time,” French said.

French was reluctant to describe the level of cooperation by witnesses. In the church shooting, nearly 200 people were present and participating in musical prayer when shots rang out.

“We are really concerned about safety… We don’t want to say who is cooperating because we really have a problem with fear” of cooperating with police investigations, French said.

Rev. Kamal Hassan, who leads Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church in Richmond, said the outbreak of violence in a hall of worship strikes a troubling chord in the city.

“This definitely crosses a line that people should pay attention to,” Hassan said. “We once looked upon houses of worship as places of respect and sancturary, out of bounds for this kind of activity.”

Hassan said he was “shocked and deeply disappointed” by the violence, and that it shows how “deep our spiritual crisis has become.”

He said he would reach out on Tuesday to leaders at New Gethsemane Church.

“We must speak out with one voice in opposition to this kind of behavior,” Hassan said.