Fayette shooting suspect charged with first-degree murder in CMU student death

FAYETTE, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Howard County prosecutor has charged a suspect after a Thursday night fatal shooting of a senior Central Methodist University football player in Fayette.

Kundarrius Taylor, 23, is charged with first-degree murder in the deadly shooting of Torrance Evans, according to online court documents.

Fayette Police responded to the 500 block of North Linn Street on a report of a shooting Thursday and found Evans’ body inside the residence door.

A witness said Taylor admitted to the shooting and Taylor returned to the residence and was taken into custody, according to a probable cause statement.

In a police interview, Taylor said that he and Evans had not been getting along for over a month and that Taylor felt Evans had been disrespecting him on numerous occasions, the statement says. An argument Thursday turned into a confrontation in which Taylor shot Evans twice, according to police.

Taylor will be arraigned on Tuesday. He is being held at the Howard County Jail without bond.

Taylor does not have a defense attorney, according to online court records.

CMU Vice President for Enrollment Management and Athletics Joe Parisi said Taylor was a former student trying to get readmission to the school in Howard County.

Both men are from Memphis, Tennessee.

Friday classes at the school were canceled, and the football coach "met with the football team last night, and is with them again today as they do their best to process what happened and try to heal," according to a Friday Facebook post. Saturday's football game is still scheduled.

"The coach, the team, the athletics department made a decision that they wanted to continue to play the game," Parisi said. "So, we're trying to help this community heal and continue to be supportive for one another, and they felt that was the best avenue to do this."

The team is still processing what happened to their teammate. Evans played offensive line for the CMU Eagles. Coach David Calloway got the team together Thursday night and has been with them nonstop, Parisi said. 

Roughly 4,000 students at CMU have been offered access to both ministers as well as counselors to try and work through the events that took place Thursday night. Students said they received text messages about a campus lockdown and later a message that said everything was clear. But they said they didn't initially know what had happened.

Administrators sent a message out hours later giving an explanation for the lockdown, mentioning the death of a student near campus. Students told ABC 17 News they still have questions.

Cpl. Kyle Green said Fayette's police chief asked for the state Division of Drug and Crime Control's help investigating the shooting.

A neighbor told ABC 17 crews that they didn't hear anything, however, she said the police arrived around 5:30 p.m. She told crews that she has never seen any unusual activity in the area prior to this incident.

CMU's main campus has about 1,100 students, according to the school's Facebook page.

Check back for updates to this developing story.