On a Sunday morning in Goodview, Minnesota, the life of a 55-year-old Caucasian male named John J. Schneider was tragically cut short. It was September 7, 1980, and Schneider, a 22-year veteran Investigator with the Winona County Sheriff's Department, was responding to what seemed like a routine domestic disturbance call at a mobile home on Ontario Lane.
He was accompanied by two other deputies as they approached the residence where a man had locked himself inside with a young child.
The situation inside the trailer was tense. The deputies, attempting to de-escalate the conflict and ensure the safety of the child, decided to force entry into the mobile home. As they breached the doorway, the man inside, later identified as John Arthur Kirch, opened fire with a. 22-caliber rifle. A single shot struck Investigator Schneider in the chest, fatally wounding him. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, a standoff ensued for approximately 40 minutes before Kirch ultimately surrendered to the authorities.
Following his arrest, John Arthur Kirch, who was 34 years old at the time, was charged with the murder of Investigator Schneider. The legal proceedings culminated on January 19, 1981, when a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. The court subsequently sentenced him to life in prison for the killing of the veteran lawman. Kirch remained incarcerated for the remainder of his life and died in prison in the year 2025. Investigator Schneider, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, was survived by his wife and two children.
