Good evening. Thanks for joining us. Tonight, a revolutionary new approach to curbing street violence in one california city. Paying young men who are often armed and potentially dangerous not to shoot. Bringing archenemies together. Defusing the lethal anger that can be sparked by something as simple as a facebook post. Heres my nightline coanchor byron pitts with our series face to face. Reporter dewan race is just 19 years old but hes already had to say goodbye to seven friends, each one murdered. And hes fed up. Thats cold, bro. Reporter today hes paying his respects to two brothers buried in one plot, shot dead on the same day. He tells us he didnt cry when they died. But the tears are coming now. And something else. Anger. What are you thinking . What are you feeling . Pain, man. Like real pain, bro. You know what i mean . Make me want to act in violence. Reporter watch closely. Grappling with an urge to avenge his friends violent murders, dewan pulls out his phone. Hes about to make a life or death decision, whether to call his boys and retaliate. Have to sit back and i have to think whether to go left or whether to go right. Five bullets came from a white mazda. A brother and sister shot to death in richmond last night. Reporter this potent mix of pain, anger, and teenagers with guns making dewans hometown of richmond, california at one point one of the deadliest cities in america. Here the streets are hunting grounds. Corner after corner young men run for their lives. Those puffs of smoke, bullets. Chased by an armed rival. And here a calculated hit is under way. Two men calmly walking before they open fire. Lighting up the night. Every night on the news youd think this was beirut. Youd be afraid to come to this city. Reporter in 2007 the city brought in devone bogan who came up with a controversial solution. Pay the young men like dewan not to pull the trigger. Oh, yeah. Reporter thats right. The better the behavior, the better the paycheck. Aint that funny . Reporter this month dewan got the maximum. 1,300. Congratulations, bro. Good for you. Thank you. Reporter that day at the cemetery he chose not to avenge his friends death. Everything you do is going to have a reaction. You know what i mean . And a consequence. Youre on first check status. Reporter dewan is just one of two dozen men in an 18monthlong fellowship thats run out of devones office of neighborhood safety or o. N. S. , mostly funded by taxpayers. Right here, boom. Reporter the people weve spoken to who believe it is wrong to pay a kid not to kill somebody. Well, thats not what we do. In fact, i never tell a young man to put his gun down. Their job is to get their lives together. I painted all those cabinets right there. Reporter dewan also got a real job. When the people come in here and they move into their house they would never know that a little black kid from richmond did it. You know what i mean . Theyd never know. Reporter progress for a young man who was first arrested at age 12 for armed robbery. He says he was homeless and stole an iphone to help his single mom pay the bills. Devone says he was well known on the streets. A serial shooter. Thats what they would say. I called him a leader, a hunter. Thats what they would call him. I called him brilliant. Working to survive. To help the fellows navigate life or death choices devone enlisted men like James Houston and sam vaughn, who themselves have rap sheets for violent crimes. Let me tell you, city hall was like what . Were going to be looking to hire men and women who may have murder in their background . Reporter their background one of the things that makes them particularly suited to the most crucial part of their job, interrupting violence. The fellow calling tells james he thinks hes being hunted. What kind of car . Reporter a car filled with suspected rivals parked in front of his house. Unarmed, sam and james put their lives on the line to stop a potential shooting. Were told to keep our cameras down because the young man asked us not to show his farks his house or his name. Im telling you seriously, take my word. But im telling you yeah, but what im saying is youre whatever it is right here. Just a dead man walking. Let us try to deal with this. Reporter sam and james stay with him until he calms down. For a minute it was a hard choice. But then again, i had to really think about it. It is a cry for help. It just isnt the typical one. Because they dont want to do something but they feel like they have to. Reporter in a fiveyear period the number of homicides dropped 76 across richmond. A number that cant be attributed to o. N. S. Alone, but o. N. S. Says the proof that their approach is working, the vast majority of fellows are still alive. So we want to expose them to a world where they go from i dont give a to a place where maybe i do. Reporter dewans been doing so well hes qualified for the next huge reward in the program, an all expenses paid trip to d. C. And new york city. But theres a catch. You have to be willing to travel with someone thats trying to kill you or that youre suspected of trying to kill. Go to school every day. Reporter dewan will be paired with Marico Williams from a rival neighborhood. New york. Yankee thing. Reporter so far 18yearold marico has not been shot, but his mother fears it could be a matter of time. I worry a lot. Every night, every day. I pray. Whats your biggest fear . That i have to bury him. Reporter o. N. S. Is about to bring together marico and dewan for the first time for a pretrip meeting. Each joined by another fellow in the program from their own neighborhood. The change agents stay close by. A facetoface meeting like this can turn deadly in an instant. You feel me . Because now yall making it seem like we tripping and yall tripping and we making yall trip. Reporter dewan says maricos crew disrespected one of dewans murdered friends on facebook. Social media posts have been a flashpoint for violence here in the past. Why the [ muted ] are you tripping . You feel me . Reporter finally, marico and his friends agree that the post should be deleted. So we set . Yeah. Reporter navigating this conflict with words, not violence, is a big step for these young men. Without this program we would have never met. We would have never had an encounter like that. It would have been negativity. How do you guys get along now . How . You and the guys in the program. Because we have a conversation. You can settle difference thats maybe in the past might have been settled with guns you settle talking it out. Whoop di whoop. Boop di whoop di woman. The settled. The change agents say many of the fellows in the Program Still carry guns for protection. How do you square that with if you are trying to teach them how to function in society but yet theyre still strapped. Right now were trying to teach them not to deal with their conflict with violence. Im not saying its okay. But im saying i understand your reality. Reporter but so many armed men on the streets relax. Reporter is not a Reality Police here are comfortable with. I dont know what theyre doing on the street level. Theyre kind of on their own track. And were on ours. Reporter were with them when a routine traffic stop theres a point where like asking people nicely to stop reporter turns into an armed standoff. Close the door. Close the door. What did i do . Put your hands up. Put your hands up its a firearm. Reporter the driver has a gun out in plain view. Put your hands up reporter not uncommon in richmond where protection from being hunted can be more important than hiding the weapon from police. Dont move. If you move youre going to get shot. Do you understand . Reporter luckily, he obeys. I didnt do anything. Step out. Step out of the car. Put your hands behind your back. Put your other hand behind your back. Put your other hand behind your back. Reporter in this car four men, two guns. No shots fired this time. Revolver. He may bail out before i even get off work. You know . And theres two firearms recovered in the vehicle. Reporter other cities struggling with gun violence, baltimore, washington, d. C. , oakland are now asking devone for his help. Is there any sense maybe youre coddling these kids who need a firm hand, who in some instances perhaps need to be incarcerated . Absolutely. Their growth and development requires a little coddling, coaching, discipline. Thats what they get here. My late mama would call that love on these boys like parents. Brother, byron, thats exactly its not that hard. These young men shoot because when they shoot they matter. Its when we Pay Attention to them. Reporter its finally time for the big trip to the northeast. Feel like a million dollars. Reporter so many firsts. Far from the streets of richmond, the rivalries and reality of living there seem to dissipate. Babababa blue strips. People say whats your theory of change . Blow these young mens minds on life. Show them whats possible. Show them whats possible. Reporter from the corridors of power to the skyline of new york city. Im on top of the world. This is broad. You know what i mean . Ive never seen nothing like this before. Reporter perhaps a new perspective on the world, each other, and whats possible for a life well lived without violence. They dont come back kumbaya home, home team. But they come back and its byron and devone. Not that sucker from across town. Not sucker. Reporter its a lot harder to shoot someone you know, respect, maybe even like. Can you maintain that, though, when you get back . Definitely. This is a revolution. You know what i mean . A new era. 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Call it what you will. Swish, nothing but net. The miracle shot. It was a threepointer for the ages. Clinching victory in the heartstopping final milliseconds of the ncaa championship. A fitting finale perhaps to a season of buzzer beating magic. We are on the court taking lessons from dude perfect on nailing that perfect basket. The 2016 National Champion reporter a wildcat welcome home tonight in pennsylvania. The villanova champs back on campus almost 24 hours after defeating the topseeded unc tar heels in fairy tale fashion. And that historymaking basket. With arcidiacono. Three seconds at midcourt. Gives it to jenkins for the championship shot by chris jenkins, seen round the world. National champions with jenkins hitting the winner at the buzzer the buzzer beater exploding like a supernova. Its good. All the way. How about that reporter the wildcats clawing their way to victory. 7774. As the campus erupts in celebration. He made it he made the three for the win how good is that . Big smooth. Reporter jenkins own brother on the other team, unc player nate britt, standing in silence. Nates my brother. I love him. You know, to play against each other in the National Championship, it was Something Special for our family. Im happy that we won for sure. So i dont have to hear him talk smack. How could he talk smack when his brother nailed the ultimate basket, seth a new bar high above the rim for those memorable clutch shots. I still cant believe it. Im still in shock. Ive watched it a few times. And it gets better each time. Reporter at the uconncincinnati game last month a pair of buzzer beaters sent the game into a fourth overtime. Theres the pass to laettner. Reporter perhaps the most legendary shot, in 1992, which sent duke to the final four after a thrilling game against kentucky. Former tar heel and basketball superstar Michael Jordan looking impressed last night. But hes had a few shining moments of his own. Like the shot, as its known, over the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1989. Bulls win they win it reporter the modern equivalent, nba superstar steph curry making magic as he sinks one from halfcourt. And yet its not just elite athletes who sink those jawdropping baskets. Mere mortals like this lakers fan have been known to land those halfcourt shots like this one in january. Which earned this guy a cool 95,000. For the championship reporter a stoic if not stunnedlooking wildcat coach jay wright says this is right out of their playbook. So we know what it is. We practice it every day. Reporter if practice is the secret sauce to making the big shot, then the guys from dude perfect are the iron chefs. Theyre the highflying, gravitydefying trick shotmaking megastars on the internet. How they turn eyepopping basketball shots into bigtime business. With over 17 million fans on facebook, over 9 million subscribers on youtube, racking up more than 1. 5 billion views. This is the laser shot. Reporter it all began with this video. A complace of trick shots when they were just a bunch of College Buddies doing it all for fun, which went viral. Their shots jaw dropping off a helicopter, over a jumbo jet. Even the goodyear blimp. Everyone is convinced that you guys are sneakily getting these trick shots. We kind of take that as a compliment because i mean, youve got to be really smart to be able to do that. Im ready to do more trick shots. Reporter last year i went down to dude perfect headquarters in texas to get a firsthand lesson in the art of making the big impossible shot. Im juju cheng. And were dude perfect. And this is the nolook shot. Oh reporter sure, that might have been beginners luck. But making the big shot is hard work. It takes practice. Practice. And then more practice. Whats the longest its taken you to get something . 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On the democratic side abc news projects Bernie Sanders the winner in wisconsin. Frontrunner Hillary Clinton is still leading substantially in the delegate count. And thanks for watching abc news. Tune in to Good Morning America tomorrow for a full roundup of primary results. And as always, were online at abcnews. Com and on our Nightline Facebook page. Good night, america