Bouncer killed at DeSoto lounge described as 'gentle giant'

Derek Phillips was working at Brickhouse Lounge. Police said he didn’t have a gun on him, when he was shot and killed. Witnesses said the shooting was about smoking cigarettes.

DESOTO, Texas - FOX 4 is learning more about the bouncer who was shot and killed while working at a DeSoto lounge Friday night.

Friends of 47-year-old Derek Phillips describe him as a "gentle giant."

Phillips was working at Brickhouse Lounge. Police said he didn’t have a gun on him, when he was shot and killed. Witnesses said the shooting was about smoking cigarettes.

"Just a gentle giant," Eve Wooten said about Phillips.

Standing nearly 7-feet-tall, Phillips was a protector of people while working as a bouncer at DFW clubs.

"He loved protecting people. You know, God gave him just the stature of someone to naturally protect and that just was natural for him," Wooten said.

Wooten recalled that Phillips had her back when she was bartending while pregnant.

"He was my personal bodyguard, you know, he was like, ‘Nobody touches you Eve. If somebody rubs your belly and you don’t want them to, you tell me,’" she said.

Phillips was shot and killed while working as a bouncer at Brickhouse Lounge in DeSoto Friday night.

Police said Phillips was unarmed when 48-year-old Toussel Kuhn, a resident of the Denton County community of Savannah, shot Phillips because of an argument about "lounge rules."

Brickhouse Lounge told FOX 4 the argument came as Kuhn was trying to smoke cigarettes.

"Things like that don’t make sense to me, but it’s just got to stop," Wooten said.

Police said someone close to Phillips shot Kuhn, but he was able to drive away. He later crashed in Glenn Heights before being arrested.

A mugshot for Kuhn is currently unavailable because he’s in custody in a hospital. DeSoto police said he’s listed as critical. He’s charged with first-degree murder.

"I woke up and the first message I see on Facebook is rest in peace, and I immediately logged off because I’m like, no, no, not him. Like, no," Wooten said.

Wooten said Phillips always acted professionally, even with out of control customers.

"It’s just time to go. You know he didn’t have to yell. He didn’t have to put his hands on them," Wooten added.

She said those who met Phillips never forgot him, and that wasn’t just because of his towering size, but because of his heart.

"A person everyone needs to have as a friend," Wooten said.

DeSoto police said they do not expect any charges against the patron who shot Kuhn.