Disgruntled barber customers might take revenge for a disappointing haircut by leaving a bad or tepid Yelp review. But it seems things got even more cutting at one Kansas City shop, where an angry customer allegedly returned with a gun and opened fire.
According to court documents, a barber even feared he was about to be executed in the ordeal until a timely gun malfunction gave a witness the opportunity to disarm the alleged gunman.
Vernie O. Dickens was charged Friday with first-degree assault, unlawful weapon use, and two counts of criminal action in relation to the shooting that took place at Draque’s Barber Shop in the city’s Hanover Place area, The Kansas City Star reports. The 33-year-old, who is being held on a $75,000 bond, was said to have been arrested after cops responded to a call of a disturbance involving a weapon.
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Witnesses said they heard Dickens arguing about a haircut he’d had the day before—for which he was not charged—and he’d returned on the day of the shooting to have it corrected. The person who did the original cut wasn’t there when Dickens showed up, so another barber told him to take a seat and wait, at which point Dickens allegedly flew into a rage.
When the barber at the shop threatened to call the police, Dickens was said to have pulled out a gun and fired two shots at the barber. Dickens then chased the barber out of the shop and into the parking lot, witnesses claimed. One onlooker said there were kids inside the shop when the shooting started.
Seeing the firefight break out, one witness inside the shop went to retrieve a gun from his car. The man then claims to have found Dickens around the corner, standing over the barber pointing a handgun at him. The witness says he tried to reason with Dickens to stop and, when Dickens’ gun malfunctioned and caused its clip to fall out, the witness was able to tackle him and take the gun out of his hands. When cops arrived, they found the witness sitting on top of Dickens.
The barber had already been taken to hospital in a private vehicle by the time police showed up. At the hospital, the alleged victim described fleeing the shop amid the sound of gunfire and attempting to hop a fence before realizing he’d been shot in the back. He says he then laid on the ground with his hands spread out when Dickens allegedly stood over him. The victim believed Dickens was about to “execute” him before the gun malfunction and the witness intervention, a police officer wrote in court documents.
If convicted, Dickens could be facing a decades-long stretch inside—and some time before another haircut. Missouri law states that he could get 15 years for each count of armed action, another 15 for assault, and 30 years for the charge of unlawful weapon use.
