NEENAH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Friends are remembering Kevin “Hollywood” Hein, 59, the man shot and killed during a robbery in Neenah.
The shooting happened at the Short Branch Saloon in Neenah early Monday morning.
Police are still hunting for his killer.
Hein was popular in Neenah, and loved by many.
The Short Branch Saloon – It’s a bar where everybody knows your name, and everyone knew his…
“Every time he came in; anywhere he went, it was always a big like, ‘Yay, it’s Hollywood!’” Dave C., a close friend of Kevin “Hollywood” Hein said. “It kinda sucks that that’s not gonna happen anymore.”
“He’ll always be known as ‘Hollywood,’” said longtime friend Becky Skotzke.
The missing presence in the bar where a large group of Kevin “Hollywood” Hein’s closest friends gathered was palpable.
Hein’s seat remained empty, “his” remote, untouched.
“He’s the kind of guy that would sit at the bar with the TV remote, and nobody bothered that,” Dave said. “Everybody loved it!”
At well over six feet tall, Skotzke says you couldn’t miss him.
“He was a big teddy bear,” she said. “If anybody ever needed help, he was there to help them.”
Hollywood’s friends say his kind-hearted, protective nature is the reason why Hein was at the bar Monday night.
It wasn’t unusual for him to stick around until closing, so bartenders wouldn’t be alone.
“He did that!” Dave explained. “That’s out of the kindness of his own heart; he’s always stood up for the underdog, always been there for everybody and was willing to throw himself in any danger that was put in front of him, or anybody else, for that matter.”
“That is the type of guy that he is; he’s there to protect, you know,” Skotzke said. “He’s so harmless, and he definitely stayed there late to help.”
“Hollywood” will no longer again light up the saloon he often walked into, but his friends will never forget him.
“The spirit of him will be carried on, and everybody else that comes here and goes everywhere he’s ever been,” said Dave.
Skotzke says he was one of a kind.
“There was nobody else like him,” she said. “He’s truly going to be missed.”
Hein’s funeral and visitation services are set for Saturday in his hometown of Clintonville.
A “celebration of life” will be held for him at Short Branch Saloon Oct. 26.
