60-year-old man faces weapons charge after girlfriend killed in Independence shooting
An Independence man is charged with a felony gun crime stemming from the fatal shooting of his girlfriend inside their home on Thursday, according to Jackson County Circuit Court records.
Leslie D. Moore, 60, faces a single count of unlawful firearm possession by a convicted felon, according to charging documents filed Friday. He was being held in the Jackson County jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond as of Monday afternoon.
According to charging documents, Independence police officers were dispatched around 6:15 p.m. Thursday to the 1400 block of South Crane Street for a reported shooting inside a residence. A woman, identified in court documents as Kathy McCarty, was found with two apparent gunshot wounds after officers arrived and met Moore at the front door.
As she was being loaded into the ambulance, an Independence police sergeant on scene asked: “Who shot you, hun?”
“My boyfriend,” she replied, according to court documents.
She told the officer she was getting up and heading to the shower when she saw her boyfriend “pointing a gun” at her, authorities allege. She identified her boyfriend as “Leslie” to police.
McCarty, 61, later died at the hospital. A medical examiner found the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to court documents.
Independence detectives were investigating the shooting as a possible homicide as of Monday evening. Jackson County prosecutors had yet to file any charges related to the shooting itself as of Monday evening.
During an interview at Independence police headquarters, Moore allegedly admitted to having firearms inside the residence, saying he kept them there to protect him and McCarty from intruders.
Detectives noted Moore was convicted of felony drug distribution in Jackson County in 2001, a condition that would make him unable to lawfully possess a gun.
Court records did not list a defense attorney for Moore as of Monday.
This story was originally published November 21, 2022 at 7:37 PM.
CORRECTION: This story originally misspelled the name of the victim. Her name was Kathy McCarty.
