The above image, Ahmad, Resting In Light, was created by artist Emily Parker as part of the 2021-2022 Souls Shot Portrait Project exhibition.
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When Ahmad Morales was 14, his mother Tamika taught him how to cut hair. A longtime hairdresser and salon owner, she wanted him to have a skill that he could use to support himself throughout life.
Tamika bought her son a set of clippers and showed him the ropes, then got him a job at a barber shop at Broad and Snyder. Ahmad swept up and learned even more from the barbers, who became his mentors.
By the time he was 16, Ahmad had his own chair and was cutting clients’ hair.
“That right there started his way of being a barber,” Tamika said. “He just loved it and he was very good at it. He was very good.”
Ahmad had jobs at several barber shops over the years, and most recently he cleaned airplanes at the Philadelphia International Airport.
Earlier this year, though, he recommitted himself to barbering. The shop that gave him his start at 14 had hired him back, and he was working on branding himself by getting business cards made and starting a new Instagram account highlighting his barbering skills. His ultimate goal was to have his own barber shop, following Tamika’s example.
“It seemed like he was really on his way to start over and really be focused,” Tamika said.
But Ahmad would never have the chance to flourish. He was shot and killed as he walked to a corner store in the early evening of July 3, 2020 around 24th and Federal in the Point Breeze section of South Philadelphia.
No arrests have been made. Police are looking for four suspects who drove up to Ahmad in a white Jeep Grand Cherokee.
“Ahmad was a very kind person that wanted to be loved,” Tamika said. “He wanted to be somebody. He was trying to find his way. It was taking a little bit longer than I wanted, but he was getting there. That’s what hurts the most — I didn’t see my son reach his full potential.”
Ahmad, who was Tamika’s second child and first son, was born April 26, 1996 in Philadelphia. She and her family lived in an apartment above her hair salon.
As a baby, Ahmad was a joy, but it was bittersweet: He had stomach issues and the only time he wasn’t crying was when he was being held. So in order to do her job, Tamika had her clients hold him while she cut and styled their hair.
A 2014 graduate of John Bartram High School, Ahmad was funny and outspoken and a great dancer — a class clown at school and home. Tamika got him into acting and he appeared as an extra in the 2005 Cuba Gooding Jr. film “Shadow Boxer.”
Ahmad had three brothers and three sisters and was great about helping out with the younger kids. If he had the chance to have children of his own, Tamika knows he would have been a great father. His kindness is what made him special.
“He had a really good heart,” she said. “He didn’t like conflict, and he wasn’t the flashy type. He was a very humble guy.”
Tamika yearns to make his favorite meals for him — he loved her fish and grits, seafood salad and shrimp Alfredo. She wonders what he could have achieved if he had the opportunity.
“His presence is really missed,” she said. “Him coming in the door and me cooking for him — we all just miss him so much.”
Ahmad is laid to rest at Morgan Cemetery in Cinnaminson, NJ.
A reward of up to $20,000 if available to anyone that comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for Ahmad’s murder. Anonymous calls can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
Date: 2020-07-03
Location: 1200 S 24th St, Philadelphia, PA
