On August 31, 2018, our lives changed forever when our son, Felix Snipes, transitioned due to a senseless act of violence. My nephew was also shot and lived, tearing our family apart. That Friday was the first game of the Junction City High School BlueJay football season, where Willie has been an assistant coach for more than 20 years. Willie received a call as he prepared to take to the field. He called me, which shocked me because it was game time, I knew something was wrong. He said, “Felix has been shot, meet me at the hospital now.”
I began screaming, took our youngest child to my in-laws and sped to the hospital. We watched from the parking lot as Felix was wheeled out onto the helicopter by EMTs. They wouldn’t let us go near our son. That hurts me to this day. I couldn’t go near him, neither to comfort him nor let him know we were there. As the helicopter left, an officer told us to go ahead to Topeka, and we left. I can’t handle the sound of a helicopter. The hardest thing was that no one told us what was going on. We found out during the court process.