MILWAUKEE — A barber well-known in the community was killed in a shooting near 17th and Hadley Wednesday morning.
Family and the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office identified him as 42-year-old Ricky Darnell Bond.
Bond owned White's Barbershop on Hopkins. A shop that would normally be bustling with activity, was unusually quiet on Wednesday afternoon as his co-workers and friends mourned his loss.
"He was a good dude. He loved his clients and they loved him," said barber Fredrick Goff. "It's gonna be a big loss. It's gonna be hard to go on without Rick in this barbershop. I don't know how we're gonna function without Ricky in here."
But Goff said they'll find a way to keep going and to keep Bond's legacy and memory alive.
"By keeping this shop alive, keeping his name alive. Memorializing his chair, make sure his chair stays empty with him in there. Only rick can work there," Goff said about how the shop will remember Bond.
Goff worked with Bond for 15 years and called him a mentor.
Javar Thomas, another of Bond's co-workers, said Bond made him the man he is today.
"I was down bad, I was doing bad. Him putting me in this shop gave me a better position to help me look at things a lot different. Helped me better myself, helped me get on my feet, my own place, a car. He educated me a lot, you know, how to be a man," Thomas said.
Thomas and Goff also called their friend and co-worked a community leader, trying to steer others down the right path.
"Anytime somebody came with a gun, he told you to put it up. He gave you a speech like you don't need to be showing that, you don't need that. He was definitely a community guy, you know what I'm saying, an uplifter [sic]," Goff recalled.
His role in the community made it all the more difficult when Bond's friends found out he had been shot and killed just a quarter mile away from the shop.
Goff and Thomas planned to keep the shop closed today, but styling hair is when they feel closest to their friend.
"I wasn't even supposed to cut no hair today when I found out about the news, but somehow I did a couple of heads and I ended up cutting them better than I ever did. I like to think that was Rick," Thomas said. "He's always going to be here in this shop."
His stepmother, Patrice, said her son “was a skillful barber and well known in the community.” She shared a photo of Bond shaking hands with former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the barbershop.
Bond's father posted to social media, "I am broken-hearted at your loss. But I am grateful to God for placing you in my life for as long as he did. And I will always love you my Son. May you rest well with our ancestors."
Patrice tells TMJ4 News that Bond has five children, including 13-year-old twins, two 18-year-olds, and a 24-year-old. He also leaves behind a loving mother in Philadelphia.
Police are still looking into the circumstances that led to the shooting, and they are asking anyone with information to contact MPD at 414-935-7360 or Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS.
