Michael Weintraub left the shooting scene in his damaged Mustang before police arrived and called his mother for directions.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Michael G. Weintraub managed to drive away from a Kansas City gas station after he was shot inside his Ford Mustang, called his mother for help finding a hospital and reached University Health before he died, according to a police account of the killing.
The final miles of Weintraub’s trip became a central part of the timeline in the case against Ramel A. Morgan. Officers found no injured person when they reached the Phillips 66 station late Dec. 7, 2025. Roughly 45 minutes later, police were directed to the hospital, where the damaged silver Mustang had arrived. Medical staff pronounced Weintraub dead at 2:02 a.m.
Seven months later, Morgan pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. A Jackson County court sentenced him July 9 to 14 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, according to local court reporting. Morgan was 20 at sentencing. Prosecutors dropped two armed criminal action charges and one count of unlawful use of a weapon as part of the plea agreement. The case links two locations: the gas station at 2911 Van Brunt Boulevard, where surveillance video recorded the confrontation, and the hospital at 2301 Holmes Street, where police located Weintraub and his car. Evidence from both places allowed investigators to reconstruct what happened even though the shooter had run away and the victim had left before the first patrol officers arrived.
Police were dispatched to the gas station at about 11:49 p.m. A witness said a man came out of the convenience store and opened fire toward the Mustang before fleeing south on Van Brunt Boulevard. Officers canvassed the area but did not locate a suspect or victim. They recovered a 9 mm Winchester casing and a bullet fragment from the parking lot and learned that the business had recorded the shooting. At 12:35 a.m., officers received the hospital call. The Mustang’s rear windshield was shattered, with apparent bullet damage around the lower frame and another fragment on the passenger-side spoiler, according to the probable cause statement. Police placed a hold on the car so it could be towed and processed as evidence.
Weintraub’s mother told officers that her son had telephoned her after the shooting. He said he had been shot at the Phillips 66 and needed directions to the hospital, the filing states. The public records do not describe the length of the call, what route he took or whether anyone else assisted him. They establish that the car left the gas station at about 11:49 p.m. and later arrived at University Health.
During an initial examination, officers found a Glock 22 .40-caliber handgun on the Mustang’s front passenger-side floorboard. It held a 22-round magazine with eight live rounds. A later search found four .40-caliber shell casings inside the vehicle, two cellphones in the driver’s area and apparent blood on the center console and driver’s seat. The public police statement does not say Weintraub fired the handgun or identify a forensic test proving how the casings came to be inside the car.
Meanwhile, detectives returned to the station’s video system to examine the minutes before the shooting. Cameras showed a gray Hyundai Sonata arrive at the pumps at about 11:41 p.m. Three passengers entered the store. Weintraub’s Mustang appeared in the lot shortly afterward. Morgan then got out of the Sonata’s driver’s seat and entered the business.
Investigators said Morgan was visible inside with an object resembling a handgun. He moved in and out of the building, then exited with the object in his left hand as the Mustang parked near the entrance. Morgan approached the passenger side and appeared to speak with Weintraub through the car. After the brief contact, the footage showed Morgan point a gun at the driver and fire repeatedly. Morgan ran south, while the Mustang pulled away. The three passengers who had arrived with him remained long enough to be captured leaving the store at about 11:51 p.m. They climbed into a black Jeep and departed, police said. Morgan’s Sonata stayed behind, making it possible for detectives to connect the video to a registered vehicle.
A court-authorized search of the Sonata produced records identifying Morgan. Police reported finding a Missouri registration receipt listing Morgan as an owner, an identification badge bearing a shortened version of his name and a service receipt naming him as the customer. Detectives compared the man in the station footage with Morgan’s state photograph and said the images strongly resembled each other.
Witness interviews then supplied the human sequence surrounding the video. Police traced the Jeep and spoke with its owner, as well as young people who had been inside the store. Their names were largely redacted from the public probable cause statement because several were minors. Multiple witnesses identified Morgan from photographic lineups. One witness had recorded a video at the station. The audio included a man making a threat just before the shooting and a woman responding, “You do what you have to do,” according to the police filing. Another witness said Morgan carried a gun inside the store and told a young woman to leave with him before he killed Weintraub. The witness heard gunshots after Morgan walked outside.
The woman later told investigators that Weintraub had dropped her off earlier that day and that she contacted Morgan for a ride that evening. When Weintraub arrived at the station, she identified him to Morgan as “Mike,” the statement says. Morgan asked her to come outside while holding a pistol, but she refused. She heard shots after he left the building and later reported that Morgan acknowledged being involved in a shooting.
Witnesses described the woman as having been romantically involved with both men. One said the overlapping relationships appeared to explain the confrontation. Police included that belief in the probable cause filing, but the document did not present it as a separately verified conclusion. Morgan’s guilty plea admitted second-degree murder; it did not require the court to adopt every witness theory about his motive.
A witness also reported that Morgan said he started shooting after he saw a gun in the Mustang. That account was relayed to investigators rather than provided directly by Morgan. When Morgan appeared at police headquarters with attorney Molly Hastings on Jan. 12, he declined to make a statement, according to Detective Robert Maser’s filing.
The investigation and later plea resolved who was criminally responsible, but several details remain unanswered in the available public materials. The records do not provide a complete ballistics report, explain whether the gun inside the Mustang was lawfully possessed or state whether prosecutors accepted or rejected the witness account that Morgan saw it before firing. No additional person is identified as charged in Weintraub’s death.
The sentencing report also does not include remarks from Morgan, Weintraub’s family, the prosecutor or the judge. It does not say whether Morgan apologized, whether relatives addressed the court or what factors produced the agreed 14-year term. The charging document had described a broader potential punishment for second-degree murder, including a term of 10 to 30 years or life under the law cited in the complaint.
Morgan’s plea spared both sides a trial centered on the surveillance record and witness testimony. Prosecutors no longer had to prove the murder allegation to a jury, and Morgan avoided the uncertainty of a verdict on the original collection of charges. The resulting judgment leaves him serving a state sentence while the dismissed weapon counts are no longer pending.
Weintraub’s drive from Van Brunt Boulevard remained one of the case’s starkest verified facts: He left before police reached the scene, sought directions from his mother and arrived at a hospital in the same bullet-damaged car in which he had been shot. The court case that followed concluded with Morgan’s admission and 14-year prison term.
Author note: Last updated Aug. 5, 2026.