by KYW's John Ostapkovich
Comedian Bill Cosby led an event Wednesday on a serious subject -- the city's soaring murder rate -- at Community College of Philadelphia.
Cosby joined speakers from area anti-violence groups in asking hundreds of young people to reject lives of crime and violence.
Cosby says kids can latch onto the love that is available to them from parents and mentors, or risk becoming someone who kills:
"Gone is a potential president of Community College. Gone is a potential doctor of medicine. Gone is a potential great father, gone is a potential honest human being."
Some other speakers who had done hard time in prison said that they had pulled themselves back onto the straight and narrow.
Cosby asked the crowd to make the same commitment without going off the rails in the first place.