A former member of the Black Panther Party, an African-American organization established to promote civil rights and self-defense which was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s, pleaded guilty Friday to shooting a Chicago police officer in 1969.

His plea comes after he spent several years in Canada where he lived under an assumed name.

The former Black Panther is Joseph Pannell. The now-59-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated battery. The police officer he shot in 1969 was Terrence Knox. Pannell, who was 19 at that time, shot the police officer three times in the right arm.

The judge sentenced the former member of the militant group to 30 days in prison and two years' probation. Panel will also give $250,000 to the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, a fund which aides the families of injured or killed officers. The money for the above mentioned fund came from his supporters in Toronto and defense attorneys in the Chicago area, according to Pannell’s attorneys.

The former militant will be freed on March 7, a month after his return to Chicago and about 39 years after the shooting.

Knox’s family came up with the idea for the donation. During a discussion with reporters, the former police officer said that the apparently short length of the sentence does not trouble him, the Associated Press reported.

"This is not 30 days. It's 30 days plus the time ... served in the various prisons, plus two years' probation, plus agreeing and stipulating that he tried to murder me," he said.

The police captured Pannell after the shooting took place and put him under arrest, but as he was released on bail in the early 1970s he fled to Toronto where he took the name of Gary Freeman.

During that period he worked as a researcher in the Toronto Reference Library. He married a work colleague and raised a family. However, he was discovered in 2004 as his fingerprints from Chicago were matched with those taken in Canada for a customs offense committed in 1983.

After spending years to fight the extradition to the U.S., Pannell decided this month to come voluntarily to Chicago and face the justice.