Kansas City Man Pleads Guilty in Killing of Off-Duty Officer

A 23-year-old man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for fatally shooting an off-duty Missouri police officer at a Kansas City restaurant.

Sean Steward, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday in the killing of Thomas Orr, a 30-year-old Lee’s Summit police officer, at a party in the Westport entertainment district.

Investigators say Orr was not the intended target of the August 2017 shooting.

The Kansas City Star reports the shooting happened after a man struck another man in the face, causing him to fall. A witness said Steward fired a handgun into the crowd, shooting Orr, and ran from the restaurant.

Orr was a middle school resource officer in Lee’s Summit. He had also worked for the Marshall police department.