SHELBY — John Sellers died in the line of duty nearly 128 years ago.
But the Shelby police officer was among those honored Thursday during the 37th Ohio Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony in London, Ohio.
The 2025 ceremony paid special tribute to four Ohio law enforcement officers lost in the line of duty between 2021 and 2024, as well as two historical honorees, one of whom was the Shelby officer.
Sellers, a deputy marshall with the Shelby Police Department, was fatally shot in June 1897 while trying to remove a vagrant from the town’s train station depot, according to a press release from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
The vagrant who killed Sellers was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“Deputy Marshal Sellers was a husband, a father and a (Union) veteran of the Civil War,” according to the emailed press release.
According to the Attorney General’s website, Sellers was born in 1845 in or near Chambersburg, Penn., and came to settle 20 years later in the village of Shelby.
Sellers had gone to school until age 16 and learned the cabinet-making trade before moving to Shelby in 1865. He joined the Shelby Reformed Church in 1866 and two years later married Susannah Laser.
Most of what is known about Sellers involves his service in the Civil War. According to his obituary, he enlisted in the Union Army three times with varying Pennsylvania infantry and cavalry regiments – the first for three months, the second for nine months, and the third for three years.
He fought at South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Later in the war, he suffered serious wounds to his right ear and neck during a battle for control of the Southside Railroad in the Shenandoah Valley.
He was sent to a hospital in Washington to recover, then transferred to Philadelphia, where he was discharged in June 1865.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, Sellers succumbed to gunshot wounds he received on June 3, 1897, at the Shelby Junction at 3:30 p.m.
“Around 3:00 p.m., Deputy Sellers asked a group of vagrants to move from the train depot area. When one of the men would not leave and threatened Deputy Sellers with his pistol, Deputy Sellers left the area to retrieve a gun. Deputy Sellers returned with a weapon, but the man still refused to go and a scuffle ensued. While attempting to gain access to the subject’s gun, it fired, striking Deputy Sellers in the abdomen,” the website said.
“Deputy Sellers was taken to his home, where he died from his wounds the next day,” the website said.
The website said the vagrant who killed Sellers was released after serving 12 years and eight months, “but was in and out of prison throughout the years for various other crimes.”
He was survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son, according to the website.
The ceremony on Thursday also marked the 25th year of the Fallen Officers Memorial Wall, which was dedicated in 2000 on the grounds of OPOTA in London. The names engraved on the wall date back to 1832.
“Nothing that I do as attorney general is more important than being here today to recognize the indispensable role that law enforcement officers play in our lives,” Yost told those attending ceremony, where he was joined by members of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission, law enforcement officers from throughout the state and families of the fallen.
“Without the rule of law, we would live in chaos, fear, and destitution. And without brave men and women to defend the rule of law – our peace officers – the rule of law would cease to exist,” Yost said.
Yost voiced his anger at the profound loss represented by the 840 names engraved on the memorial wall at OPOTA. He lamented the death just days ago of Ohio’s first peace officer in 2025 — Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Larry Henderson, who was intentionally run down by a driver while directing traffic.
Yost called for an end to violence against law enforcement.
“We should never accept that these tragedies have to happen. How sad is it that we schedule this day, every May, because we know at least one officer will have made the ultimate sacrifice to save the lives of others and protect our way of life? Why is that acceptable? I’ve grown weary of adding names to this wall during my tenure. I don’t want to see another officer die in the line of duty in Ohio, or anywhere else,” Yost said.
Yost encouraged all Ohioans not to wait until an Ohio peace officer is killed to thank them for the work they do – and to do their part to eliminate the need for any more names to be added to the memorial wall.
“This Circle of Heroes is a promise carved in stone,” he said. “That promise is: You will not be forgotten. But rather than see another name added to this wall, I would like us to close this circle once and for all.”
Ceremonial units from dozens of Ohio law enforcement agencies participated in the ceremony, with a riderless horse provided by the Columbus Division of Police serving as a compelling symbol of the lives lost.
For more information on each officer’s life and legacy, visit the Fallen Officers Memorial webpage on the attorney general’s website.