At the end of a march led by Representative Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, local religious leaders met at New Shiloh Baptist Church on North Monroe Street with some of the young rioters.

Most of the protesters had already left the church, but with about 50 people still in the pews, six or seven young men went to the front of the church, where they set out their frustrations and spoke about what they had done to shape the events of the night.

Some of the young men wore bandanas to hide their identities. Several young men identified themselves as members of the Crips, Bloods and Black Guerrilla Family street gangs. One Crips member, who called himself Charles, said the gang members had taken to the streets because “there is only so far that you can push people into a corner. We’re frustrated and that’s why we’re out there in the streets.”

He described how he and some Bloods members stood in front of stores that they knew were black-owned business, to protect them from looting and vandalism. He said they made sure no black youths, or reporters, were injured by rioters.

Instead, he said, they pointed the rioters toward Chinese- and Arab-owned stores.

Freddie Gray’s death, he said, had brought Baltimore’s violent gangs together.

“I rolled over here on a truck and I was the only Crip, and everybody else was Bloods, and they didn’t do anything to me,” he said. “We’re together in this.”