Former police officer pleads guilty

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A former Lake Tapawingo police officer has pleaded guilty to second-degree assault for shooting a man who was trying to steal a police department vehicle last year.

Gary Moore, 56, was sentenced Monday to two years probation for the felony charge.

Prosecutors said Moore saw a man driving off in a 2001 Jeep Cherokee owned by the police department in front of the Lake Tapawingo city maintenance garage on Jan. 20, 2002.

Moore fired eight shots at the vehicle, hitting the man once in the mouth.

The man was taken to a Kansas City hospital to be treated for the gunshot wound.