A beloved Ditmas Park barber was shot in the head and killed inside his shop on Saturday afternoon.
Warren Billings, 38, was pronounced dead on the scene after being shot in the head inside his barbershop on Cortelyou Road between Flatbush Avenue and E. 22 Street. The killer was still at large as of Monday, according to police.
Residents we spoke to said Billings, of Ditmas Park, had gotten into an argument with his assailant over electronics misplaced in his shop. The assailant allegedly went home before returning to the store, where he shot Billings in the head around 4 pm.
Residents said Billings had a loyal following in the area, and was known to always have a smile on his face as he greeted people who walked by his shop.
“I used to pass by on the sidewalk and even though he’d be inside, he’d say hello to you,” said Josie Mann.
Billings had worked at least two other barbershops in the area before opening his own place on Cortelyou Road, residents said.
As a crowd gathered outside his shop on Tuesday, peering in on the empty barbershop filled with lit candles and empty bottles of Hennessy, many spoke of Billings’s generosity.
“If you didn’t have the price of a cut, he’d take whatever you had and he’d cut your hair,” said Deborah Hill, who lives near the shop.
