Michael Ray Phillips, Park City Liquor Store Gun Robbery, KS 2016

A botched robbery turned bloody when 37-year-old Wichita man Michael Ray Phillips tried to storm the MGS Liquor Store in Park City, Kansas, with a loaded gun. On May 24, 2016, Phillips and co-defendant Roland Donell Ross walked in armed, demanding cash. What they didn’t count on was a store employee ready to fight back — with gunfire.

As the two suspects brandished firearms during the attempted heist at 6200 North Broadway, the employee pulled his own weapon and fired two rounds. One struck Phillips in the chest. Bleeding and wounded, Phillips fled the scene before officers arrived, leaving his partner momentarily at the mercy of the armed clerk, who held Ross at gunpoint until police converged on the store.

Phillips didn’t get far. Hours after the shootout, he turned up at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, seeking treatment for the gunshot wound. Authorities were waiting. Ballistics and surveillance evidence sealed the case, linking him directly to the attempted armed robbery. He later pleaded guilty to one count of brandishing a firearm during a commercial robbery.

On Monday, Phillips was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall. The charge carries a mandatory minimum of seven years when a firearm is involved — even if the suspect doesn’t fire a shot. In this case, Phillips did more than threaten—he walked in armed and ready, triggering a violent chain of events.

Ross, the co-defendant who stood just feet from death at the hands of the clerk, remains awaiting sentencing on November 10. Federal prosecutors have not disclosed the charges he will face, but given the armed nature of the crime, he could face a similar mandatory sentence.

The investigation was a joint effort between the Park City Police Department, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch prosecuted the case. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall praised the response, calling it a textbook example of how armed robbery is met with full federal force — from hospital beds to courtroom dockets.

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