‘It wasn’t even a bad cut’: Customer upset over haircut shoots KC barbershop owner

By Nathan Vickers

Click here for updates on this story

    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — A local barber survived a shooting late last week after an angry customer allegedly opened fire.

Dráque Murff, the owner of Dráque’s Barbershop on 39th Street, was home recovering Thursday. He told KCTV5 the man had come to his shop last week and asked for a discounted haircut. One of the barbers at the shop agreed. But Murff said that, after the trim, the man complained about it.

“It wasn’t even a bad cut,” Murff said. “He did a really good job with it. The man just wanted it for free.”

The next day the man returned, looking for the barber. When Murff told him the barber wasn’t there, the man became agitated. Murff said the customer pulled a gun.

“I started running,” he said. “But then, I got shot in the back.”

He said he kept running but fell when he tried to jump over a fence. He said the man stood over him with the gun.

“It was a terrible situation, lying there with a gun to my head,” Murff said. “I said one more prayer. He pulled the trigger and I just heard a click.”

He heard several more clicks as a stranger came to help.

“I looked up and saw some big dude,” he said. “He was trying to get the gun away and I went over and started hitting him.”

He said the other barbers had caught up by then and joined in to help. Lalo the Barber, who has a chair in Dráque’s, said they eventually got the gun away.

“We did what we had to do,” Lalo said.

Another stranger happened to stop by, a Z-Trip driver who took Murff to the hospital. There, he found out the bullet had passed through his side and barely missed his spine.

“It was so traumatic,” Murff said.

KCTV5 has covered events at the barbershop in the past, including charity toy drives for families and free haircuts for kids. He said he thinks of his business as a source of community support. After the shooting, he decided to start a GoFundMe page to help kickstart a nonprofit for violence awareness and prevention.

“I just want to turn tragedy into triumph,” he said.

Police later arrested the alleged shooter. Vernie Dickens has been booked in the Jackson County Detention Center.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.