In the early hours of March 11, 2017, a trip to a BP gas station on East 39th Street in Kansas City, Missouri, turned fatal for 31-year-old Dorron Blackmon. The male victim was shot and killed in what authorities described as an attempted robbery. Just two weeks before his 32nd birthday, Blackmon, a father and soon-to-be husband, was taken to a local hospital by private vehicle where he succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into Blackmon's death led to the apprehension of two
suspects, Diondre Ganter and Michael Sewell. Surveillance footage from the gas station, along with witness statements, implicated the two men in the crime. The evidence suggested that Ganter and Sewell attempted to steal a gun from Blackmon while he was seated in his vehicle, a confrontation that escalated to the fatal shooting. Both men were subsequently charged with second-degree murder, attempted robbery, and two counts of armed criminal action. During the incident, Sewell also sustained a gunshot wound.
In April 2017, formal charges were filed against Diondre Ganter, who was 28 at the time, and Michael Sewell, then 42. More than a year later, in October 2019, Ganter was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. His conviction was for being a felon in possession of a firearm, the very weapon used in the shooting of Dorron Blackmon. While this federal sentence addressed the illegality of him possessing the gun, it was separate from the state-level murder charges he faced in Jackson County. Information regarding the final disposition of the murder and robbery charges for both Ganter and Sewell in state court is not publicly available.
