:Eyewitnesses: The Baltimore Riots Didn't Start the Way You Think"

"Shortly before noon, the department issued a statement saying it had "received credible information that members of various gangs…have entered into a partnership to 'take-out' law enforcement officers."

When school let out that afternoon, police were in the area equipped with full riot gear. According to eyewitnesses in the Mondawmin neighborhood, the police were stopping busses and forcing riders, including many students who were trying to get home, to disembark. Cops shut down the local subway stop. They also blockaded roads near the Mondawmin Mall and Frederick Douglass High School, which is across the street from the mall, and essentially corralled young people in the area. That is, they did not allow the after-school crowd to disperse...
Many of the students still at school at that point, she notes, wanted to get out of the area and avoid any Purge-like violence. Some were requesting rides home from teachers. But by now, it was difficult to leave the neighborhood."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/how-baltimore-riots-began-mondawmin-purge

It's so important to hear all voices, and to see that there was a 'before the riot started'. To see that this isn't just some kind of absolute eventuality of situations with 'angry black teenagers'. To remember that the rioters can have teachers and classmates, and that these people have voices and truths.

It's exhausting how much I feel like I can write the script of what the news will be - the real world is more surprising and complex and I shouldn't be able to anticipate it. I shouldn't watch the news and feel like I have already seen it.

Related: "Gang members: We did not make truce to harm cops" -- the spectre of urban gang youths is such a huge part of our culture, but I don't think I have ever seen a gang member speak before 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HaaRZ8nxd4