FAIRFIELD-

Gang violence is on the rise in Fairfield.

“It’s pretty crazy right now. probably the craziest I’ve seen it in a long time,” Larry Bluford, of Operation THUGS, told FOX40.

“Young people shooting at each other. Thirty shootings since January,” Fairfield City Councilwoman Catherine Moy said. “We’ve had four homicides. It’s got us asking, ‘Why?’”

About a quarter of those shootings are gang-related.

Officials say one prominient gang is experiencing inner conflict, and that violence has spilled onto the streets.

“They are doing that for marijuana sales,” Moy said.

The city has stepped up, by hiring a sergeant to head up a street team.

“Those officers will not respond to calls. They are just to go out and search and look for these kinds of things they shouldn’t be doing,” Moy said.

Bluford has committed the violence in the past, being among Solano County’s 10 most wanted earlier in his life.

But serving a five-year sentence in San Quentin, for a shooting he said he didn’t commit, changed him.

And now he wants to help change today’s gang members.

“Harsher drugs and the crimes are getting more violent than when I was out here doing crime” he said. “You’re either gonna end up locked up or you’re gonna end up dead.”

Through Operation THUGS – The Harvest Unit Gathering Souls, Bluford is reaching gang members, showing them there’s another way to live.

“Derail them and tell them there’s another way out,”  he added.

A town hall meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday has been moved to April 29 to enable city school officials to attend and discuss what’s being done to address the present problems.

The community is encouraged to attend. It will be at 6 p.m. at the community center.