KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The family of a Kansas City barber student working to change his life are searching for answers. KCPD says DeAndre Davis, 35, was killed one week ago Sunday.

Davis’ family says he was not a perfect person, but he was incredibly motivated. He was working hard to be a positive force in the community by taking a new path and becoming a barber. However, he was killed before he had the chance.

To his family, Davis is a reason to celebrate.

“DeAndre was a good guy, a very good guy. Special,” his aunt, Carmen Davis said.

“Everybody knew DeAndre was going to be successful no matter how many things he’d been through in life,” his godbrother, Torrance Hunter said.

Although Davis was a felon, after going to prison he made the decision to turn his life around. He enrolled at Old Town Barber College and put himself toward a passion. His teacher, Atwood Williams says he took notice.

“Change is good but a lot of people don’t like change and for him to want to take on that challenge, I felt honored to be the one to help him go through it,” Williams said.

Williams says Sunday morning he woke up to the news Davis was in critical condition. He says the day before they were working on haircutting techniques.

Davis was shot near E. 43rd Street and Hardesty Avenue and police responded to the call just after 10:15 p.m.

When they arrived, officers located man inside a residence suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to an area hospital by EMS and was listed in critical condition.

Dee died at the hospital Easter morning.

“I want to know why, and I want to know why – really. Why?” Davis said.

“It will never go away. We need justice. We need to figure out what happened. It’s not fair,” Hunter said.

Old Town Barber college gave Davis’ family a certificate of competition in his memory.

“God has a plan for all of us and it’s not for us to go around shooting up each other, to fight every day, and have disagreements. No, we’re not going to have a good day every day, but we need to find the best in each of us,” Williams said.

His godbrother says Davis’ motivation inspired him as well.

“It was a big change because me and him talked about it a lot. It was such a big change that he inspired me to go to barber school. Now I’m applying for barber school as well,” Hunter said.

While his family remembers the best of Dee, they say answers are what they need, and hope someone with information will come forward.

“It would set my soul free. It would set my soul free because when I lost Dee – I lost a part of me,” Davis said.

“At the end of the day we need justice and at the end of the day we need to stop all this killing and violence,” Hunter said.

Police say they did arrest one person in this case, but they have been released while they investigate further. Davis’ case was sent to the Jackson County Prosecutor but there are no charges at this time.