Friend of man killed at Travelers Inn asks city to come together - WIBW

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A friend of the man who was shot and killed at a South Topeka motel earlier this week is asking people to not judge him by his past.

Fred Morrisette was on Facebook when he saw the news his friend James Epps Jr. was shot and killed.

“It was just a shock because I just talked to him. You know, I had just talked to him. One day you’re here and one day you’re gone.”

He thinks there are two victims from that Tuesday at the Travelers Inn on Southwest Topeka Boulevard.

“The guy that did it, you know, he was 19-years-old, he’s a baby. You know, he’s a baby and his life is probably over with at 19-years-old,” said Morrisette. “There’s been a moral decline in our society where violence is glorified and these youngsters are looking at these things and think it’s cool but it’s not cool.”

Epps was arrested multiple times. Morrisette also spent a portion of his life, 15 years to be exact, behind bars, but he’s asking people to not judge a book by its cover.

“Judge James by what he was doing now. Judge me on what I’m doing now. There have been a lot of people that have been in trouble with the law and have become successful.”

Morrisette said he was homeless, fighting drug addictions at one point in his life.

It was in a prison cell when he chose to change his ways.

“I decided that God was the only way for me and he’s delivered, just like this opportunity here just to speak on God and get the chance to speak on James, it’s a blessing. God has changed my life and I know that God can change anybody’s life.”

He believes in prayer and wants people to see how God can change lives, so another death like this doesn’t happen.

“We need to grab these youngsters. We need to give them things to do. We need to love on them if they’re not getting the love at home. We need to love on them. So things like this don’t happen. For people like James, trying to work hard and do things right, it’s a tragedy he had to go out like that, but you know he’s in heaven now because I know he was trying his best to change his life around.”

Gun violence has struck the city again and he believes there are opportunities for people to stay on the right track and keep adults on it. He wants the city to come together.

“It takes a community nowadays to raise these kids,” he said. “The way these youngsters think, the things they see on TV, the music they listen to, or whatever. It starts from the home.”

Isaiah Krainbill of Topeka was booked into the Shawnee County jail on charges of first-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon by a felon.

Copyright 2021 WIBW. All rights reserved.

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