Joey Alexander spent 23 years behind bars before finding purpose and freedom as a practitioner for Urban Alchemy. For the past two years, he worked outside San Francisco's Main Library, checking on unhoused neighbors, deterring violence, and watching for drug use.

Last Friday, Alexander was shot during an interaction with a man suspected of using drugs nearby. It was the first time in Urban Alchemy's history that a practitioner has been killed on the job.

The shooting came just weeks before Alexander was scheduled to reunite with his son for the first time since his release from prison.

"We do go into every interaction thinking the worst can happen," Dr. Lena Miller said, a co-founder and CEO of Urban Alchemy, who spoke exclusively to CBS News Bay Area for the first time publicly s

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