Man charged in Minn. shooting was praised for leaving gang

ST. PAUL, Minn. - After being held up as an example of how to escape gang life, the alleged founder of one of the largest street gangs in St. Paul, Minn. has fallen back in to trouble and is charged with shooting a man at a bar last week, reports CBS Minnesota.

Not long before last week's shooting, James Fields told reporters about how he escaped gang life. Fields and four friends reportedly started the East Side Boys gang in elementary school and watched it grow into one of the largest street gangs in St. Paul.

Fields eventually left the gang after a friend of his was shot and killed, according to the station.

"Everybody has a wake-up call, and that was my wake-up call," Fields previously said, reports the station.

Fields had reportedly went to work for the city's parks and rec department as a liaison to help stop gang activity and in 2012, he was honored with the chief's award for helping pull free a man who was trapped in a car.

But in May, Fields was charged with burglary and making terroristic threats for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, reports the station.

And on Wednesday, he was charged with two counts of second-degree assault after allegedly shooting a man in the leg outside a St. Paul bar.

Fields allegedly told police he was aiming in the direction of another man who had testified against his brother during a trial. The shooting victim lived.

"I guess it's sad in that regard, because you'd like to see people succeed," said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. "But at the same time when they fail and they do things like this, when they are shooting guns in the middle of the street at people and actually causing injuries to one of the victims, that's a serious thing."

If convicted of the assault charges, Fields could reportedly face more than 10 years in prison.