WATCH ABOVE: Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis urges an end to the riots.
Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis aimed his fiery rhetoric at the violent rioters in his adopted city Tuesday in a video that has been shared thousands of times since he posted it to Facebook.
The NFL Hall of Famer implored the kids of Baltimore to “get off the streets” in the two-minute video that has been viewed more than four million times.
“No way this can happen in our city. No! Young kids you’ve got to understand something, get off the streets. Violence is not the answer, violence has never been the answer,” Lewis said. “Freddie Gray. We don’t do nothing for him doing this, we know there is a deeper issue, we know what the jungle looks like.”
“Baltimore. Get off the streets.”
READ MORE: What we know about Freddie Gray and the Baltimore riots
Riots erupted in Baltimore on Monday after Gray’s funeral as protesters clashed with police. Fifteen officers were hurt during the protests and over 200 people were arrested.
Gray died on April 19, a week after being arrested by Baltimore Police Officers. He suffered significant spinal injuries, slipped into a coma and died in hospital.
Lewis, who spent his entire 17-year career in Baltimore, said there’s no doubt something went wrong and tried to convince his audience that violence won’t help.
“We know there was wrong done. We know we’re not getting the right justice, we know all these answers,” he said. “But rioting in our streets is wrong, it’s dead wrong.”
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