SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WRTV) -- La Porte County Deputy Jon Samuelson was in critical but stable condition after undergoing about eight hours of surgery following a shooting Friday at a Michigan City hospital in northern Indiana, the sheriff said in a social media post on Saturday.
Samuelson was shot Friday morning at Franciscan Health Michigan City following an altercation with Sharod Grafton Jr., 22 of Chicago.
According to state police, which is handling the investigation, Samuelson stopped around 6:45 a.m. Friday for what he thought was a disabled vehicle on State Road 2 and County Road 900 West, which is about a mile east of Westville. At Grafton's request, the deputy took the man to the Michigan City hospital.
According to police, the deputy learned at the hospital that Grafton may have been involved in an earlier incident. An altercation then happened in the emergency room between Grafton and the deputy, during which Grafton shot Samuelson. After the shooting, Grafton ran into woods near the hospital. Officers quickly located and apprehended him there. During the search, officers found a handgun believed to have been used in the shooting.
Samuelson was flown to Memorial Hospital in South Bend for advanced medical treatment after the shooting.
The sheriff said Saturday that the medical staff was optimistic regarding the deputy's recovery.
La Porte County Sheriff Ronald C. Heeg in a Saturday social media post thanked the medical personnel providing care to Samuelson. "Thank you to the surgeons and the entire medical staff at Memorial Hospital for the exceptional care being provided to Deputy Samuelson. Please continue to pray for Jon, his family and friends and the entire law enforcement community."
The social media post said Samuelson is a 12-year veteran of the La Porte County Sheriff's Office. He serves as a member of the agency's highway interdiction unit, is the handler for a police dog named Bosco, and is designated as a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force officer out of the Merrillville district office.
Grafton on Friday was in custody at Porter County jail.
