On a Sunday morning in March 2009, a welfare check at a rural farmhouse west of Marion, South Dakota, ended in tragedy with the death of a dedicated law enforcement officer. Chad Mechels, a 33-year-old White male, was a deputy with the Turner County Sheriff's Office. On March 15, 2009, he responded to a call to check on the well-being of a resident at a farmhouse. It was there that he was fatally shot.
The man he was there to check on, 19-year-old Ethan Johns, would later be identified as the shooter.
Following the shooting, the suspect, Ethan Johns of Marion, fled the scene. However, he later contacted authorities and surrendered to law enforcement. When he turned himself in, Johns was armed with a deer rifle. He was taken into custody and subsequently held in the Minnehaha County Law Enforcement Center. Deputy Mechels was transported to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Ethan Johns was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Deputy Chad Mechels. In November 2010, Johns pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison for the killing. At the time of his death, Chad Mechels had been with the Turner County Sheriff's Office for five months and had a total of five years of experience in law enforcement, having previously served with the Lake County and Kingsbury County Sheriff's Offices. He was survived by his wife, a seven-year-old daughter, and a three-year-old son.
