KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Kansas City police officer who said he was shot in the chest last fall while patrolling a shopping center has been charged with false reporting, prosecutors said.

Kelly Sapp, 53, was suspended from his job after investigators questioned his story about being shot Sept. 14 while he moonlighted as a security guard.

Police swarmed the area looking for a shooter after Sapp radioed he needed help. He said he had been shot by an unknown assailant as he investigated noises coming from a tree line near the shopping center. Sapp, who was in uniform at the time, said his protective vest saved him from grave injury.

But investigators later determined the evidence gathered at the scene didn’t match Sapp’s story, including security video that showed Sapp outside his vehicle, but no shooting. Investigators said Sapp continued to maintain he was being truthful until he later told detectives that the story was “a result of his being ‘in crisis’.”

Sapp left the department about a month after the incident, police officials said. Sapp is scheduled to appear in court on May 28.