Ramal Hicks | photo provided
By TYLER HOLMES
Homicide Watch Chicago
Whenever Ramal Hicks arrived at a family event, it was understood that he would be the one standing behind the grill. A beloved member of the Englewood community, he was known as much for his cooking skills as comedic nature and outgoing personality.
“My brother was a jokester – he was the jokester of the family,” said Terrance Hicks Jr., Ramal Hicks’s eldest brother. “The day before [the shooting] happened, we were having a picnic and he had a water fight with my daughter. That’s just the kind of guy he was.”
The 34-year-old was shot in the lower back and chest on June 20 around 12:45 a.m. in the 1500 block of West 69th Street, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at 3:55 a.m at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
Family and friends in the surrounding area were shocked and saddened by the death of the man they called “Pooh” because Winnie the Pooh was his favorite cartoon character.
Family and friends sign posters during a candlelight vigil for Ramal “Pooh” Hicks on June 21, the day after he was fatally shot in Englewood. | photo provided
“Even when we didn’t want to joke, he was always making us laugh,” said Ronnesia Branch, Ramal Hicks’ cousin. “I lost my mom two years ago and he always had to make us smile even when we were grieving.”
Hicks was also talented tattoo artist and interior handyman. He designed and tattooed many of his family members and friends in the neighborhood.
“He had been drawing since he was 6 or 7 years old,” Hicks Jr. said. “He followed in my father’s footsteps. He was very good with his hands.”
A candlelight vigil was conducted June 22 at 1500 West 69th St., where the shooting took place. According to his brother, Hicks’ blood was still visible on the street.
Ramal Hicks had attended his family’s annual Father’s Day picnic the day before. After leaving the gathering, he was distributing leftover food to a group of homeless people at the corner of 69th and Ashland when two men approached him about midnight.
“From what I heard, he had a confrontation with one of the men. They tried to double-team him,” Hicks Jr. said. “They left and came back with two other guys and a young lady, and we feel the young lady had the gun. We believe it was premeditated.”
Hicks, left, with family at annual Father’s Day picnic | photo provided
The men involved have been a problem in the neighborhood for about a year, according to Hicks Jr.
“I grew up on the South Side. I fought tooth and nail to get out and to stay in school,” he said. “After my daughter graduates from 8th grade, I’m thinking about leaving Chicago altogether.”
“We really want the guns to get put down – we want the violence to stop in Chicago, and especially in Englewood,” Branch said. “We deserve justice for this. We were with him on Father’s Day and he died passing out food.
“What he didn’t have to spare, he still gave.”
Hicks is survived by a 4-year-old son. Services are scheduled for July 1.