Taco Bell manager murdered by homeless employee he let stay at his apartment, police say

A Taco Bell manager tried to help a homeless employee by letting him stay at his apartment, but the vagrant repaid him by murdering him, Michigan police said.

27-year-old Louis Stafford was the manager of the Chesterfield Township Taco Bell when he noticed one of his employees was arriving for work with wet clothing.

When he asked 24-year-old Dejon Drake why his clothes were wet, Drake told him he was homeless.

"The guy told him that he was basically living in a tent behind the Taco Bell. Louis said, 'Hey, you don’t have to be out there. You can come stay with me,'" said Stafford's cousin Zonni Juan to WXYZ-TV.

Juan said that Stafford invited Drake to live at his apartment but that the situation quickly soured when Drake became combative.

"The people at his job became afraid of him," said Juan. "He started getting really combative and they were like ‘We’re going to fire him.’ Louis just kept stepping in, kept trying to advocate for him."

On July 29, Stafford asked Drake to move out of his apartment, and a fight broke out. Drake then allegedly shot and killed Stafford.

Drake was arrested and booked into Macomb County Jail. He was charged with second-degree murder and felony firearm possession and given a $2 million cash bond.

Juan suggested that the tragedy might have been avoided if there was better mental illness care.

"He was the type of young man that you would look at him and say, one day he’s going to make someone a really great husband, he’s gonna make someone a good father,'" said Juan of Stafford.

Stafford's family said that he had just been getting his life back together after his brother died from complications with COVID-19 and diabetes. He had also been previously shot three times during a robbery when he worked at a McDonald's restaurant.

Here's a local news report about the incident:

Taco Bell manager killed by homeless employee he let stay with himwww.youtube.com

[Ed. note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the state as Illinois. We regret the error.]

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