The basketball coach for Terrance Powell tried to be gentle.
“Your dad is sick and he has to go to the hospital,” the coach told the 7-year-old boy.
The scene was the parking lot outside a Country Buffet restaurant Saturday night in Aurora.
Just feet away, diners and others tried to help Terrance’s father, 30-year-old Thomas Powell, who had just been shot.
He had staggered into entrance of the restaurant in the 1100 block of South Sable Boulevard, where he collapsed.
Minutes before, the coach had been on the phone with Thomas Powell, telling him they were on their way.
The coach and Terrance were returning from a basketball tournament, and Thomas Powell was supposed to pickup his son, according to Keith Powell, Thomas Powell’s younger brother.
As they drove up, the coach noticed that the driver’s side door of Powell’s Chevrolet Tahoe was open and then saw the people near the restaurant entrance. He left Terrance – one of Powell’s two sons – in the car and went to the entrance.
He came back and told the little boy his dad was sick, said Keith Powel, who came to get his nephew.
As of Monday evening, Aurora Police had no motive for the shooting. Detective Marcus Dudley said “police are looking at multiple motives which could involve road rage or that he could be a target. We can’t exclude that this was a vehicle in a road rage incident.”
Friends and family of the Aurora barber described Powell – whose nickname was “TNT” – as an extraordinary barber whose sense of humor and love of people made him one of the most popular barbers in the Denver area.
Powell counted among his customers members of the Denver Broncos and Nuggets, they said.
“He was the funniest guy on earth,” Keith Powell said.
“I said he missed his calling. He should have been a comedian,” said his mom April. “I’d call him when I was depressed.”
Powell’s mother, April White, and brother Keith, said he had no enemies.
He was not a gang member, they added.
However, his mother said he happened to be wearing a red shirt when he was shot.
“I have no idea who would do this. I think this was a random shooting. I know about gangs,” White said, noting she had heard about other shootings in the area recently.
Keith said his brother played some basketball for Hinckley High School before dropping out his senior year.
By then, the younger Powell said, his brother had mastered the art of barbering. He enjoyed giving middle school and high school athletes their haircuts.
By 19, he was barbering, working in three different Park Hill shops before moving to Aurora.
Colorado court records indicate he had minor scrapes with the law, including guilty pleas to false reporting and conspiracy to commit theft by receiving and theft of more than $100 but less than $400.
Cortney Smith, a barber and best friend of Powell, said that Powell would have 30 to 40 customers a day. If a person was feeling blue, he’d drop by the barbershop and talk to Powell.
“He was like the life of the party. If you were having a bad day, you knew he was on your side. I don’t know of a person who would say he was wrong or a bad person,” Smith said. “He was so funny – loving and caring for people. He wants you to be OK.”
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
