A Deputy with the La Porte County, Indiana Sheriff’s Department, is hospitalized in critical condition after being shot this morning at a hospital in Michigan City, allegedly by a Chicago man he stopped to help.
Deputy Jon Samuelson, 33, with the department for 12 years, was helping a stranded motorist, according to Indiana State Police Sergeant Glen Fifield.
That man, identified as 22-year-old Sherod Grafton Jr., of Chicago, asked to be taken to the hospital, for an unknown reason.
The deputy dropped him off at the Franciscan Health hospital at about 7 a.m. near I-94 and US 421 and left.
Minutes later, according to Fifield, the deputy learned that Grafton may have been involved in earlier criminal activity.
Samuelson, he said, returned to speak with Grafton and Grafton is alleged to have shot the deputy three times, before fleeing the hospital.
The suspect ran, Fifield said during a press conference, and was caught in a wooded area adjacent to the hospital.
He said a gun that had been in the possession of Grafton was recovered
“It makes us feel angry,” Fifield said. “This is a senseless shooting that didn’t have to take place. This officer thought he was helping a stranded motorist, and it turns into this.”
It’s unclear if the Samuelson patted Grafton down before giving him a ride to the hospital.
The deputy comes from a police family.
Deputy Samuelson’s father, a retired officer, was working as a security guard at the hospital at the time of the shooting.
La Porte Sheriff Ron Heeg said his father did not witness the shooting.
The deputy was airlifted from Franciscan to a hospital in South Bend.
