Indiana man charged with murdering federal agent outside FBI building

An Indiana man is facing federal charges in the death of a police officer outside an FBI building in Terre Haute, Ind.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indianapolis on Thursday charged Shane Meehan, 44, with killing Terre Haute Police Detective Gregory Ferency on Wednesday afternoon.

Ferency was a 30-year veteran of the Terre Haute Police Department who had been assigned to an FBI task force, police said in a Facebook post.

Meehan is charged with murdering a federal agent and could face life in prison if convicted.

According to a criminal complaint, Meehan drove a pickup truck to a gate outside the FBI Resident Agency office and lobbed a Molotov cocktail toward the building.

Ferency walked out of the building after the cocktail was thrown, after which Meehan raised a firearm toward Ferency and shot him, prosecutors said.

An FBI special agent then exchanged gunfire with Meehan, shooting the suspect twice, according to the complaint. Meehan got back in his truck and fled the scene, prosecutors said, before being located by by law enforcement at a hospital where he underwent surgery for his gunshot wounds.

Authorities said they found a Smith & Wesson M&P 45 semi-automatic handgun, two additional rounds of ammunition, 3 Molotov cocktails, 2 empty boxes of ammunition, and an additional handgun magazine in Meehan’s truck.

An FBI agent said in a news conference Thursday that the agency is trying determine whether Ferency was directly targeted in the attack.