A shooting in a hospital emergency room has left a LaPorte County sheriff’s deputy in critical condition. Police say it happened Friday morning at Franciscan Health Michigan City.
Deputy Jon Samuelson, 33, was reportedly on his way to training in Michigan City, when he stopped to help an apparent stranded motorist. The man asked to be taken to the hospital, but once they got there, Samuelson learned he may have been involved in an earlier criminal incident in Illinois, according to State Police Sgt. Glen Fifield.
"The officer returned inside the hospital, where an altercation took place in the emergency room between the suspect and himself, which resulted in the suspect producing a firearm and shooting the officer," Fifield said during a Friday press conference.
Samuelson was reportedly shot three times. He was taken to South Bend Memorial Hospital for further emergency treatment. The suspect, Sharod Grafton Jr., 22, of Chicago, was taken into custody in a wooded area west of the hospital in Michigan City.
As of Friday morning, the hospital said its emergency room was accepting walk-in patients, but it remained on ambulance bypass and Franciscan Physician Network medical offices were closed.
LaPorte County Sheriff Ron Heeg said Samuelson has been with the sheriff’s office for 12 years and comes from a long line of police officers. "His grandfather was the chief of police for the city of LaPorte," Heeg said. "His father is a retired police officer for the city of Michigan City."
Heeg said Samuelson’s father currently works at the hospital as a security guard and was there when the shooting happened.
Fifield said the shooting makes state police feel angry. “This officer thought he was helping a stranded motorist, and it turned into this," Fifield said.
Heeg has requested that Indiana State Police lead the investigation.
