Wichita man killed outside his apartment had been saving to start a business for his son

Michael Lynn Shelton Sr. was saving to buy a semi truck and start a business to leave for his son.

The 41-year-old had turned a corner in his life and he wasn’t looking back, family said.

He was fatally shot outside his apartment Tuesday morning in east Wichita. He had been on his way to work, family said.

Police said they are investigating, but have not announced an arrest.

Shelton Sr. had been in and out of prison for chunks of his life. But, about two years ago while his time in prison was winding down, he had a shift in his mindset, according to Marquita Allen and Raymond Jenkins, his sister and brother.

“He had his scrapes and in and out of battles trying to fit into the street life,” Allen said. “But he finally found himself … he’s real honest about who he was. He finally said, ‘I’m different, I can’t do it no more. I’m not giving my life to the streets, I’m not giving my life to the system.’”

Jamilah Smith, Shelton’s girlfriend, said their son, Michael Shelton Jr., was the main reason for the change. She said, even from prison, he was active in their son’s life — they all talked so much they said he was on an extended vacation.

“He was his No. 1 fan,” she said.

Shelton Sr. had been doing deliveries for Pepsi since January. He had been saving up and planned to purchase a semi within a couple of years. In the meantime, he did all the things with his son that he couldn’t from behind bars: getting a burger, going fishing and just being free to do what they wanted together.

“It was like they never missed a beat,” Smith said, adding “to have to look in my child’s eyes and see the pain and the hurt that he’s enduring, it just makes me sick to my stomach because I know he could have given him so much wisdom and guidance.”

Shelton Sr. was the oldest of five children, with six more half siblings, and someone his siblings looked up to for protection and guidance while growing up in Liberal, Kansas.

“Taught me how to fish, taught me how to swim,” Jenkins said, adding that his brother was smart and made good grades. “Taught me everything to be completely honest.”

He was also athletic, which ran in the family. Their uncle, Martin Lewis, grew up in Liberal and made it to the NBA.

Jenkins said growing up in Liberal in the 1990s wasn’t easy.

“It was really bad in the ‘90s,” he said, adding his brother was a “good kid just in a bad environment, bad circumstances.”

He said they had hardworking and loving parents, but his brother went a different route than the other siblings.

Allen said Shelton Sr. always knew what was right, but, for a long time, chose not to do it.

Records show he had state and federal convictions ranging from drugs and burglary to possession of a firearm by a felon.

Even in Shelton Sr.’s struggles, he was always positive, Smith said.

“He always wanted something better and something different than he was used to.”

Shelton Sr. met Smith in 2000. They had their son the next year.

Smith said Shelton Sr. wrote in their son’s baby book something along the lines of: “I will always love you and I may not always be there but I’m always here … I’m always watching over you. I’m always praying for you.”

Shelton Sr. had been in and out of prison before doing a lengthy stint that started when their son was a preteen and ended about eight years later in September 2022, when their son was 20.

The day he got out, Shelton Jr. woke up and asked his mother if she knew what that day was. She did. Shelton Jr. was nervous and excited.

‘I just want him to come home,”’ Smith recalls him saying. ‘That’s all I want. I just want to see him in the free world.”’

Shelton Sr. moved in with Smith in May. He was going to get off parole in roughly 20 months, she said, adding that being on parole didn’t bother him since he had focused on the future and staying away from things he did in the past.

Shelton Sr.’s life revolved around work, family, the gym and taking care of his father, who had multiple strokes last year, Allen said, adding that her brother is the only one of their family left in the state. Shelton Sr., who is a licensed barber, would cut his father’s hair and bring him food at the assisted care facility he’s living in.

“We have a big family, a big, big family,” Jenkins said. “With him, family is everything.”

In one of their last conversations together, Shelton Sr. told Jenkins how proud he was of him for the life he made. Similarly, Allen said her big brother, in one of their last conversations, told her how proud he was of his son, who had started his own clothing line and had a good head on his shoulders.

Shelton Sr. hoped the trucking business he wanted to start would be something he could one day give to his son, ensuring that he was provided for.

Allen, who has the lifetime nickname Cissy that Shelton Sr. gave to her when they were children, said she believes someone knows about her brother’s killer and hopes they speak up.

“In our community, of course, it’s harder for people to come forward but we want to know what happened to him but he didn’t deserve to be on his way to work and murdered outside of his door,” she said.

Shelton Sr. usually left for work around 4:30 a.m., Allen and Smith said. Police said they received a call for EMS around 10:40 a.m. in the 8400 block of East Harry.

Shelton Sr. was found in the hallway outside of his apartment. There are doors to the hallway, but anyone can access them. Smith said she initially suspected it was a robbery, but was never told by police that anything was taken.

She doesn’t think it was random, but is unsure why anyone would want him dead.

Allen said Shelton Sr. is loved and the family just wants justice.

“Michael was bigger than any mistake he made in the past or any choice that he would make in the future,” she said. “He was someone that was a loved son, a loved father, a loved uncle.”

She added: “I don’t want my brother to just be another statistic. Because his life mattered. The changes he made mattered.”