When Gabe got cancer,
our entire lives turned upside down.
Now we have to save him from this gang lifestyle
that he's trying to lead.
Stop calling the cops on me.
You don't expect me to call the police
when you're running away, stealing guns?
I sometimes feel that when he went through his treatment,
the chemo took a piece of his soul.
It was like a switch flipped.
He was angry, became very aggressive verbally, physically.
He was not himself.
At 10 years old, he was definitely starting
to hang out with the homies, the thugs.
But age 12, Gabe broke into an elementary school
and vandalized it.
He served two weeks in juvenile hall
but he was placed on probation until the age of 15.
At age 13, he had tried cocaine
and I heard that he was also popping Xanax.
Last year, Gabriel came storming through the door.
He was covered in blood.
I thought his nose was broken.
We robbed the wrong person who was a homie.
We stole guns from him, okay, on accident.
He said that he had broken into a house
and stole some firearms.
The gang members beat the crap out of him.
My husband Jason and I fight and disagree
on how to parent Gabe.
I'm the stable one in the relationship.
I attend most of all the court dates,
the probation meetings, school meetings.
I feel like Jason contributes very little energy
to the family.
Things have been pretty rocky
over the last few years between Jason and I.
What exactly it is you think I need to change?
I kind of feel like it's the Jason show.
You know, like you're just kind of self absorbed.
I feel like I'm talking to the wall every time I come home.
I'm hoping coming here we can get some help
to communicate better so that we can be better
parents for Gabe.
We need answers, we need solutions.
We need a way to try to save Gabe
'cause we just don't know what to do with him.
Well Sharon's best friend Rosa Lee says Gabe's illness
is not to blame for his behavior.
She says it's his parents.
I absolutely believe Sharon and Jason
parent out of guilt.
I feel like Gabe is at the point of no return.
Why is somebody
trying to do something? Because we're in
the streets, bro.
What do you mean you're in the streets?
It's not born,
but where I live at. You're not born
in the streets.
All right, I don't give a (bleeping) bro,
I'm in the streets.
I asked Gabe if he was in a gang
and he advised me that he actually is now
currently active.
When Gabe misbehaves they make excuses
and blame the cancer and all of the treatment
that he went under.
They allow him to get away with murder.
Gabe is causing more conflict
between Jason and Sharon and their relationship
has always been a struggle.
They haven't shown their children
what a healthy, loving relationship actually is.
It's no wonder why Gabe is looking for
the attention from his homies,
because he probably feels like
he's not getting it at home.
Who's responsible for you?
Us, probation is over for you. Before I did what I did.
You.
What?
Were already needing that probation.
I wanna get my son on probation.
Because I needed some kind of support.
People can't just go around doing whatever they want.
Sharon and Jason are constantly yelling at each other.
They're just so disconnected
and don't really even like each other.
Jason makes it really hard
for Sharon to parent.
Sharon will try to set down the law for Gabe.
Jason comes in and changes the law that she just laid down.
Sharon also does drink to tune out Jason
when he is home and what he's doing
to make her feel bad.
I do believe that Jason is completely
checked out of this marriage.
If Sharon and Jason don't get their life together,
I don't understand how they expect
Gabriel to get his life together.
Okay, thank you both for being here,
and Rosa Lee, you have a different perspective
on this than you do.
You have a different perspective on this
than his father does, so we got a lot of
different points of view here,
but the one thing we agree about
is that this young man is in trouble.
Yeah. Yes.
Do you think he is ganged up at this point?
I'm not sure.
You know, he says he's active,
but then he says no, I'm not trying to join the gang,
so that's why some of them are coming after them
because he's presenting himself
like he's in the gang.
He's hanging out with the kids in the gang
but you know, he said he hasn't been
jumped into it yet. We can't get a real.
We can't get a real answer. Answer out of him.
And you wanted to talk without Jason out here
to begin with, his father out here to begin with, why?
I'm just intimidated by him.
He kind of rides over me
and I tend to shut down when he starts talking.
He doesn't let me have a voice.