Young man killed at Oakland barbershop had bright future, sister says

OAKLAND, Calif. - Police are looking for two gunmen who shot and killed one man and critically injured another in a barber shop in Oakland last weekend.

 The sister of the man who died says he was passionate about social justice and helping people.

She says she recently learned her brother Hassani Xavier Bell  was an organ donor so even in death, he's giving life to eight people.

Tory Bell says she can not fathom why someone took his life. Hassani was 23 years old with a bright future.

"He was a great person, a sweet person, a peaceful person. He wouldn't harm anybody," Bell said. She added her younger brother was smart and the first person in their family to attend college on a full ride scholarship.

But she says housing and financial issues led him to stop attending San Francisco State for two years and get a job selling solar panels.

Bell says they made a promise to each other that they would both graduate from college.  

"The promise was to go back to San Francisco State and that we would see each other walk across the stage. Just  feel like I'm never going to get the chance," she said. 

On Saturday shortly before 6 p.m., police say  two gunmen shot Hassani and a barber at the Extravagant Grooming Lounge in Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood.

Bell says her brother was a regular client.

He died on Wednesday.

 "I never saw that happening to my brother," Bell says she and Hassani worked hard to overcome their circumstances. They lost many friends to gun violence when they lived in East Oakland.  "As his older sister, I wanted to show him that we didn't have to be our environment. We didn't have to become the things that we saw growing up," 

Bell says her brother competed in poetry slams while attending San Leandro High School and that he was a gifted writer. 

His goal was to become a professor and teach social justice.

 Being a single mom, Bell says Hassani was like a father to her son.

He recently held a birthday party for his one-year-old nephew, always willing to step up and help.

 "I don't know how life is without him actually," Bell says. "I want to be at peace. I want closure. I want to know why this happened." 

 She wants justice for her brother. 

Police say it appears Hassani may have been the intended target but did not give a motive.

Bell says it may be jealousy because her brother was successful in his work. 

She hopes to establish a scholarship in Hassani's name.

 To help Hassani's family, click here.