He gave up gang violence for his daughter. Then she was killed in a shooting

Keland Nance talks to his granddaughter, Nautica Powell, 3, on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019, at his property on the corner of Florida Street and East Mallory Avenue in Memphis. Nance's daughter, Jermeisha Nance, was killed in a shooting on Nov. 7.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Keland Nance said he’d hoped his daughter would learn from his past with gang violence.

Growing up in Memphis, he dropped out of school as a sophomoregang prevention advocate, mourns death of teen daughter. He said he “caught the holy ghost” in a Mississippi jail and God changed the direction of his life.

Now, at 40, he mentors at-risk youth.

On Sunday, Nance’s daughter – 19-year-old Jermeisha Nance – was killed in a shooting in Memphis.

“I never thought I’d make it to 40-years-old back then,” he said. “So, to see my daughter be killed at such an early age, it’s shocking because she knows my story just like the students I deal with.”

While his children were young, Nance earned an associate's degree in social work at Southwest Tennessee Community College. He said he intentionally made those changes before his daughters were old enough to realize the things in which he was involved.

Jermeisha Nance, 19, was fatally shot at a club on Nov. 7. She was the mother of a 3-year-old girl.

“I tried to correct my behavior before it got too late – before she got old enough to realize ‘Hey, dad is selling drugs’ or ‘Dad is a gang member,’” Nance said.

Now, he's left to raise his 3-year-old granddaughter along with other family members.

He later earned a bachelor's in social work from the University of Memphis and a master’s in education from Cambridge College.

Nance is an outreach worker at Gang Resistance For Saving Society’s Youth – known as GRASSY – a gang prevention and intervention program in Shelby County Schools. Those involved work with gang members to reduce their involvement and provide assistance when possible.

He said the GRASSY program helps him identify early signs of gang violence and attempt to remedy the situation before it escalates.

Keland Nance lost his daughter, Jermeisha Nance, to gun violence on Nov. 7. Photographed Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019, at his property on the corner of Florida Street and East Mallory Avenue in Memphis.

“I get a chance to pick their minds and help them with goal-setting and decision-making or violence interruption, before they even get on a path of feeling like every situation they come (in contact) with, they got to pull out their gun or they got to keep a gun nearby to fix the problem,” he said.

Keland Nance thinks shootings among youth are happening because they're chasing status, clout and popularity. He believes these factors got his daughter killed.