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ST. LOUIS — In north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, a two-family brick house sits surrounded by empty lots that have long lost their homes.

Between the building’s two front doors is a sign: Kicks Cuts and Caps — The Barbershop and Beauty Lounge.

On Tuesday afternoon, the snowy block on Thekla Avenue was packed with parked cars. Inside, smoke hung in the air. People were catching up, hugging. Some shared a bottle of Don Julio.

Durron Brown sat alone, apart from the crowd. His twin brother was in a barber chair across the room.

Their older brother, Durell Dorn, was dead.

Dorn was killed the day before by police after he blocked traffic on West Florissant Avenue and shot a gun in the air, actions his friends and family were trying to square.

About two dozen were in the barbershop. Over the next two hours, they talked about Durell’s struggles with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. They vented about police shootings and a callous internet culture that sometimes means they watch people die live online. But, more than anything, they talked about Walnut Park East, about how they know their community, support each other, handle their own business.

Durell wasn’t here Monday, his friends and family said. Had he been, they believe, someone would have caught him, stopped him, calmed him down. Before he ever got into that car on Monday, before he crashed it, before he got out with a gun. Before he died.

“That’s really bothering us because mental health is really, really, really real and we get him — the world don’t get him,� said his friend Sophia Williams. “If he had been in Walnut Park, this wouldn’t be a story right now.�

Durell, 37, went by the nickname “Hell Rell.� He had an 8-year-old son and a job at the fast food restaurant Rally’s. His friends said he’d worked there for eight months straight — a record for him, nearly the entire barbershop agreed.

“He was trying to get better for his son,� Jabriella Williams said.

Now, his friends said, people who didn’t know Durell will remember him only by his last actions — a man with a gun in a video that spread over social media even before police could tell his family he died.

‘Anger nobody seen’

It all started Monday morning when Durell left his girlfriend’s house in her car and drove it into a snow bank near Lucas and Hunt Road.

A driver saw Durell after the crash. The man slowed down, pulled in behind Durell on West Florissant, and began to record him walking north in the middle of the street.

In Durell’s right hand, he carried a loaded gun with an extended magazine, according to the video and police. As traffic neared, he waved his gun hand in the air wildly. He fired at least one shot into the air before the gun jammed. He took big, wide steps and never turned around to watch for cars behind him.

“That was an anger nobody seen before,� Tiana Thurman said inside the barbershop.

Two ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County officers caught up with Durell just south of Ferguson Avenue at the Ferguson border, which was partially captured in the driver’s video. Police said Durell shot at one of the officers and they both returned fire before another cop hit Durell with his police SUV.

Durell died at the hospital. Authorities on Thursday said he died from blunt force trauma, but have yet to say if he had also been hit by a bullet.

The driver’s video was posted that morning and eventually landed with more than 153,000 followers. By Thursday, it had more than 6,000 reactions and more than 600 comments.

At the barbershop, most of Durell’s crew said they found out about the shooting when they saw him in the video; one friend even said she was rushing to the scene to help him but didn’t make it there in time.

“People have families out there,� Latrice Thompson said. “And for us to have to always find out stuff from social media first is crazy. It’s a sad situation.�

‘He was too far away’

Durell had long struggled with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. But he didn’t take his medication because of the side effects.

His friends said he would commonly have what one of them referred to as “panic days.� They think Monday was a panic day. The “Five-Four� — the block number that represents their small section of the Walnut Park East neighborhood — knew how to calm him down.

His friends said they held him accountable and didn’t let Durell carry guns. They didn’t know where he got the pistol he was carrying Monday.

And they maligned what they say happens far too often in north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

“They need to train their policemen how to handle their guns in a situation with someone,� Durron, his brother, said. “There should be a better way before you pull your gun out and shoot someone.�

Police have defended their use of force. Durell fired a weapon in public with drivers around and shops operating, in the middle of the morning. Officers have to take whatever means necessary to keep people safe, a spokeswoman said.

So now Durell’s name is on a list here in Walnut Park East — a list that includes Anthony Lamar Smith, shot in 2011 by ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ police officer Jason Stockley, who was found not guilty of murder years later, sending protests into the streets of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

The idea that this could have all been avoided, that Durell could have been safe, haunts his friends and family here at the barbershop.

“He was too far away,� Jabriella said. “He was out of his jurisdiction. Nobody over there understood him. That was why it was important for him to stay close. We helped him.�