‘What went wrong?’: Harrisburg family buries aspiring barber, 20, killed in shooting
When Hauson Green met Daiquon Phillips, he could tell right away that the young man came from a great family.
Phillips was friendly, polite and had been working since he was 14 years old mowing grass. He greeted people with a “Hello sir,” or “ma’am.”
“I liked his energy,” said Green, also known as “Chops” from the Heads Up barbershop on North 6th Street near Emerald Street. “He said, ‘I want to be a barber like you.’”
So Green started tutoring him last year and immediately saw his talent with clippers blossom.
Green was prepared to mentor him for the long-term.
“He took the initiative to try what I was teaching him,” Green said. “I told him, ‘Let these clippers take you somewhere.’ He wanted it so bad.”
But someone robbed Phillips of his future on Dec. 26 when they shot fatally shot Phillips, not far from the Heads Up barbershop. Phillips, 20, died on the ground where he collapsed in the 500 block of Emerald Street about 9:30 p.m.
On Thursday, his parents and five sisters gathered around his open casket at his funeral at Wallace Funeral Directors and wailed together as they gazed upon his face for the final time.
“This one right here was a rare one,” Green said. “I loved that boy.”
Phillips’ sisters told hundreds of mourners who gathered at the funeral service that Phillips always peppered them with advice on growing into young ladies. They wanted to be just like him. But he would tell them, to “be a better version of me.”
His father, Anthony C. Phillips, Jr., told the crowd that Daiquon’s life “was the best 20 years of my life. He truly was a gift to us.”
Then Phillips turned to his wife, Ashley Lowry Phillips and told her how much Daiquon loved her.
“Every minute of his life, he talked about you,” Anthony Phillips said.
Daiquon liked to affectionately call his mother “Ummi,” and his father “Pops.” He would regularly stop by both of his grandmothers’ homes, to tell Nanna Pam that he loved her and to see what Nanna Kim was cooking. He loved Nanna Kim’s baked macaroni and cheese and baked beans.
Daiquon leaves behind a 1-year-old, whom he adored and doted upon, and an unborn son that he will never get to meet. Relatives said at the funeral that those two boys will remain a blessing to the family.
Daiquon graduated from Commonwealth Charter Academy and most recently worked at a warehouse job and as a barber. He worked every day, including the day he died, according to his obituary.
“He was good to everybody,” said his grandmother Kim Turner Johnson. “He worked with my husband, his step grandfather, on 19th Street. He kept himself well-occupied. I don’t know what went wrong.”
Police have released few details on the killing. Turner Johnson said her grandson was with two other young men before the shooting erupted in uptown. One of his best friends, Tim Cox, was killed on Dec. 12, 2020.
Her grandson “mingled with people on the south side, and everywhere. I don’t know if that became or problem or what happened. We’re praying for some closure.”
Written By Christine Vendel