Man pleads guilty to killing officer in Tennessee

MARYVILLE, Tenn. – A man charged with killing a police officer in Tennessee has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 56 years.

News outlets report Brian Keith Stalans entered the plea to premeditated murder and other charges Monday. He is charged with fatally shooting 32-year-old Maryville Police Officer Kenny Moats in August.

Police have said Moats and another officer were responding to a domestic-disturbance call and Stalans began shooting at them from the garage of a home without warning.

The officer’s family said during the hearing that their lives would never be the same.

Stalans said he couldn’t make things right, but the plea is an attempt to “make some sense out of what tragedy has happened.”