The mother of two of Dustin D. Walker’s children on Wednesday testified at his first-degree murder trial that it was her gun that was used to kill Lawrence resident Patrick Roberts, and jurors also heard excerpts from Walker’s police interrogation explaining his account of the fatal crime.

Asia Morrison, of Topeka, said she was in a relationship with Walker, 30, last year when he was arrested on suspicion of shooting Roberts, 39, last March. Roberts’ family testified Tuesday that Walker and a second man forcefully entered their Cedarwood Apartments residence, asked Roberts “Where is it?” and shot Roberts in the abdomen before fleeing.

Dustin D. Walker

Morrison told jurors Wednesday that she purchased a 9 mm Ruger handgun in late February 2014 from a Lawrence pawn shop to protect her children from the “rough” Topeka neighborhood she was living in. After a background check, she received the gun about two weeks before the Cedarwood shooting. Morrison said she stored the gun on the top shelf in her bedroom closet inside a shoebox.

On the evening of March 7, Walker had come to Morrison’s residence for a few hours, but left while Morrison ran errands for about two hours, she testified. When Morrison returned to the home, she found her back door open, but said she did not find anything else disturbed.

On March 8, Morrison said she learned of Walker’s arrest, and she contacted Lawrence Police Detective Jaime Lawson at his request. After speaking with him, she said, she looked for her handgun in her closet.

“I checked for the gun and it was gone,” Morrison said. “I was panicked.”

Morrison said she called Lawson once again and gave him the gun’s serial number.

Lawson testified Wednesday that a cross comparison with Morrison’s serial number and the serial number of the weapon left at the scene revealed a match. He then went to Morrison’s home to analyze the shoebox, and later discovered that it matched the size and style of shoe Walker was wearing during his arrest.

Lawson was one of the detectives who initially interviewed Walker the morning of the shooting. At trial Wednesday, jurors watched a 20-minute excerpt of the interview, during which Walker spoke of Roberts as a “friend.”

On the video, recorded about three hours after Walker’s arrest, Walker was seen holding his head in his hands listening to Lawson’s questions.

Walker told Lawson that he met Roberts “through the streets” about six or seven months before the shooting. Walker said he sometimes stayed at Roberts’ home and was sleeping there after a night out at nearby Club Magic, 804 W. 24th St., when he awoke to a loud “pow.”

“There was like a struggle type of thing,” Walker said of the incident. “I woke up to a struggle. First thing I thought was to run.”

Roberts’ family previously testified Tuesday that they did not think Roberts had any overnight guests.

When Lawson asked if Walker’s DNA would be on the gun, Walker said that he was “pretty sure there’s gonna be everybody’s DNA on the gun.”

Lawson then asked why Walker ran from the home if his “friend” was shot, to which Walker replied, “Come on, man, would you stay?” Lawson then told Walker that Roberts had died and that Walker’s co-defendant, Archie Robinson, was also in custody.

The interview ended abruptly, with the tape cutting off after Walker said, “I didn’t shoot no (expletive) body.”

Lawson said that during the interview Walker was wearing a bloodstained shirt, jeans and Air Jordan shoes — the same type of shoes that came from the shoebox Morrison used to store the gun.

Walker’s attorney, Sarah Swain, asked Lawson if he tested Walker for any kind of substance impairment, as Walker told Lawson that he was drunk. Lawson said he did not have Walker submit to an alcohol or drug test before his interview, but that “that would be uncommon in a homicide investigation.”

Testimony will resume Thursday at the fourth day of Walker’s trial, which is expected to last through Friday.