RICHMOND

His legs paralyzed by a bullet, Christopher Robinson recalls overhearing the emergency-room doctor saying he might not survive.

“I just kept on staying awake,” said Robinson, then 18, “because I knew if I went to sleep I might not wake up.”

The scene is in a new video that graphically documents gang life in Virginia. Attorney General Bob McDonnell is distributing 1,000 copies to police departments and prosecutors across the state with hopes that its showing will deter youths from joining law-breaking groups.

The 25-minute video, titled “The Wrong Family: Virginia Fights Back Against Gangs,” was produced with a $75,000 federal grant obtained by McDonnell.

It contains footage confiscated from gangs of beatings . There are crime-scene photos of victims and gory wounds. The video has interviews with emergency-room physicians, police officers and gang members about the brutality of the groups.

In one grainy segment, a young man in a red baseball hat is showing his handgun to a boy who appears to be about 2 years old. The boy is allowed to touch and hold the pistol.

“Basically, we sell drugs and shoot people,” says another young man in a white T-shirt and gold chain who is identified as “Tony G,” a member of the Crips gang since he was 14.

The video was unveiled Tuesday during a news conference hosted by McDonnell and attended by several dozen prosecutors and police officers from across Virginia, including two Norfolk officers.

Robinson, now 33 and taking computer science classes at a Richmond community college, came in his wheelchair. His eyes welled up when he came to the podium.

“I don’t want to see another kid hurt by a gang,” he said . “I don’t want to see another kid crippled.”

Robinson belonged to a Richmond gang 15 years ago when he was shot in a group fight.

“I would give anything to go back to that night,” he says in the video. “I wouldn’t be in a gang if I could go back.”

In the video, law enforcement officials and gang members say gangs offer money and a sense of family to youths, particularly those from single-parent households. They say idle youths can be kept away from gangs if there are strong community programs such as after-school care and night basketball leagues.

McDonnell said he hoped community programs will be spared from state and local budget cuts. He said the video, produced by a Richmond film company, Metro Productions, was made because police were seeking a “tough love” way to depict gang life in lectures to parents and children. The company is also working on a Spanish-language version of the video.

The video will not be released on the Internet; it will be provided to local police departments and commonwealth’s attorneys, who can make it available for groups wishing to see it.

Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com