On the morning of September 18, 2023, law enforcement officers in Kansas City, Missouri, were dispatched to a residence in the 3900 block of South Benton Avenue following reports of a disturbance. Arriving around 9:00 a.m., police encountered a chaotic situation with several witnesses appearing visibly distressed and behaving erratically. Upon entering the home to secure the scene, officers discovered an unresponsive Black male, 30-year-old Matthew L. White, lying beneath an entryway stairwell.
He had sustained apparent gunshot wounds, and despite the immediate response of emergency medical crews, he could not be revived and was pronounced dead at the location.
Detectives launched a homicide investigation and determined that the violence was the tragic result of a domestic dispute. Interviews and evidence collected at the scene revealed that the victim had been involved in a verbal altercation with his cousin, Eric Morrow. The argument escalated inside the residence until Morrow produced a firearm and fired at his relative, inflicting the fatal injuries. Morrow was identified as a person of interest shortly after the incident and was subsequently taken into custody by authorities.
Prosecutors charged Morrow with second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, and two counts of armed criminal action. The case moved through the legal system for approximately one year before reaching a conclusion in September 2024. Instead of facing a trial, Morrow entered an Alford plea to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter, acknowledging that the state possessed sufficient evidence to convict him while maintaining his innocence. The court accepted the plea and sentenced him to ten years in prison. The victim was remembered by his surviving family, including his mother, brother, and daughter, as a cheerful and hardworking individual.
