Overview
- The deputy, Jon Samuelson, picked up a man he believed was a stranded motorist and drove him to Franciscan Health Michigan City where an altercation in the emergency department led to Samuelson being shot three times.
- The shooting occurred on Friday and Samuelson was airlifted to a South Bend trauma center where he underwent an approximately eight-hour surgery described by officials as successful.
- Police identified the suspect as 22-year-old Sharod Grafton Jr. of Chicago, who fled into nearby woods after the shooting, was quickly arrested and had a handgun recovered at the scene.
- Prosecutors charged Grafton with attempted murder, battery against a public safety official and auto theft while hospital officials placed the emergency department on ambulance bypass and said there was no active threat.
- The incident has renewed scrutiny of hospital security and the risks faced by first responders who aid motorists, coming after several recent hospital-involved shootings in the Chicago–northwest Indiana region.