Former mayoral candidate charged in shooting death of Indiana officer
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Criminal charges were filed Thursday against an Indiana man in connection to the shooting death of a Terre Haute police officer, federal prosecutors said.
Shane Meehan, 44, of Terre Haute, was charged with premeditated murder of a federal agent, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana said in a news release. Meehan was a candidate for mayor in the city in 2019, the Tribune-Star of Terre Haute reported.
Greg Ferency, a Terre Haute Police detective and an FBI task force officer, was killed outside the FBI’s Terre Haute office on Wednesday, according to the newspaper.
>> Indiana police officer fatally shot outside federal building in Terre Haute
Ferency joined the Terre Haute Police Department on May 14, 1991, and had been an FBI federal task force office since 2010, the newspaper reported.
Meehan is a former employee of the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, WISH-TV reported. He also ran for mayor as an independent in 2019, finishing last in a four-way race with 1% of the vote.
According to federal prosecutors, Meehan drove his tan 2003 Ford F-150 pickup truck to the gate of the FBI Resident Agency building, WISH reported. Meehan exited his truck and threw a Molotov cocktail toward the building, the television station reported. When Ferency came out of the building and confronted Meehan, the man allegedly raised a firearm and shot the detective. Ferency was able to return fire in his defense but later died, prosecutors said in a news release.
Meehan was shot twice and fled the scene in his truck, prosecutors said. He was located at an area hospital, where he was being treated for his wounds. A firearm was recovered from Meehan’s pickup truck, along with three more Molotov cocktails and additional ammunition, prosecutors said.
Ferency was known for investigations into illegal drugs and criminal networks, as well as for leading and also was also a leader in human trafficking investigations, the Tribune-Star reported.
A graduate of Terre Haute South Vigo High School and Indiana State University, Ferency wrote “NARC Ops: A Look Inside Drug Enforcement” in 2003.
“An attack on law enforcement is an attack on us all,” Acting U.S. Attorney John E. Childress said in a statement. “As citizens of this county, we enjoy on a daily basis the security and protection provided by the men and women of law enforcement. That security and protection is all the more precious because it is at times paid for with the lives of those who have chosen to protect us. The selfless dedication exhibited by Detective Ferency throughout his career and his tragic death yesterday is yet another example of why we all owe our respect and gratitude to the members of law enforcement. On behalf of the Department of Justice, I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to Detective Ferency’s family and his many colleagues.”
In October 2019, Meehan told the Tribune-Star that he took early retirement from the U.S. Penitentiary at Terre Haute and was running for mayor to take the city “back to the basics.”
Meehan called Terre Haute “a poor town (with) a lot of money going out,” adding that streets, sidewalks and other infrastructure need improvement.
The article described Meehan as a graduate of West Vigo High School, the newspaper reported.
