On Friday night, as his co-workers continued to cut customers' hair inside, Kenneth Collins' family and friends remembered him with candles, balloons and tears outside the barbershop in which the 45-year-old was shot and killed this week.

Meanwhile, a 31-year-old Baltimore man has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Tuesday's shooting. Andre Mosby of the 3300 block of Brighton St. was at Central Booking on Friday night awaiting a hearing before a court commissioner, police said.

“All my life, all I ever wanted was a father,” said Nya Manley, 19, whose mother, Tonyale Manley, 39, was Collins' fiancee. “Kenneth made that dream come true.”

They were among a group that pinned up photos of a broadly grinning Collins outside Rod's Barbershop in the 2400 block of E. Monument St., lit candles and offered prayers and memories as night fell on the busy street.

“His smile and personality would light up a room,” Tonyale Manley said. She said it was hard to tell their daughter, Kamden, 4, that her father was gone. “She said, ‘When God is done fixing him, will he be able to come home?'?”

Tonyale Manley said Collins had been a barber for 10 years and had worked at the shop for the past four. She said Collins has a 27-year-old son and a 25-year-old daughter.

Police said they had identified Mosby as a suspect after responding to the barbershop about 9 p.m. Tuesday and finding Collins suffering from gunshot wounds.

Mosby was taken into custody Thursday afternoon by the city's Warrant Apprehension Task Force.

Police initially said a preliminary investigation revealed that two unknown males “entered the barbershop and at least one of them shot the victim before fleeing the location.” Charging documents were not immediately available, and Mosby did not have an attorney listed in online court records as of Friday afternoon.

The barbershop is located on the boundary of the city's McElderry Park and Milton-Montford neighborhoods.

Friend Patrese Frazier, 41, said she helped organized Friday night's vigil so “people would know he was a good man and a family man.”

He was a “community guy,” worked hard every day and wasn't “on the street doing anything illegal,” Frazier said, though she worries people will assume he was because of what happened to him.

“I think that needs to be reiterated in a society where people just become numb and begin thinking that these things are deserved or warranted. That was not the case.”

Frazier said Collins was always ready with advice for children and others who came in to get a trim.

“If you were having a bad day, or needed advice, [the barbershop] was kind of like the men's version of going to the beautician,” Frazier said.

“He would give good advice, and you knew you were going to get a good haircut as well, so it was a one-stop shop.”

krector@baltsun.com

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