A 22-year-old man from Chicago is facing several charges, including attempted murder, in connection with the shooting of an Indiana deputy inside a hospital emergency room on Friday, authorities announced.
Authorities approved attempted murder, battery against a public safety official and auto theft charges against Sharod L. Grafton on Saturday.
The announcement comes one day after LaPorte County Sheriff’s Deputy Jon Samuelson was shot inside the emergency room at Franciscan Health Michigan City.
Samuelson, a 12-year veteran of the sheriff’s office and a K-9 handler for the department, was allegedly shot by Grafton after he transported him to the hospital for medical attention under the impression Grafton was a stranded motorist. At the hospital, Samuelson learned that the man “may have been involved in an earlier criminal incident,” authorities said at a press conference after the shooting.
After the shooting, the suspect fled the hospital and ran into a nearby wooded area, where he was later taken into custody by law enforcement. Authorities also located a handgun that had been in his possession.
A La Porte County sheriff’s deputy was listed in critical condition after being shot inside a hospital emergency room on Friday morning. Christian Farr reports.
Samuelson was airlifted to Memorial Hospital in South Bend, where he went into surgery for approximately eight hours, La Porte County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post on Saturday morning.
Medical staff remain “optimistic regarding his recovery,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that Samuelson remains in critical but stable condition in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
An investigation into the shooting remains ongoing, authorities said.
