Police investigate ‘person of interest’ in Portage homicide
By Carrie Napoleon Post-Tribune correspondent November 3, 2012 8:42PM
Carl Griffith, Sr., 72, was gunned down in his Portage yard Thursday evening Nov. 1, 2012. | Provided photo~Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 5, 2012 6:52AM
PORTAGE — Police are investigating a “person of interest” in the slaying of a 72-year-old man Thursday outside his Portage home, although no one was in custody Saturday night.
Sgt. Keith Hughes, public information officer for the Portage Police Department, said police are investigating the shooting death of Carl Griffith Sr. as a homicide. Griffith was shot multiple times outside his home just after 8 p.m. Thursday.
Portage police are working with Gary police to find a man involved in a shooting incident earlier in the day with Griffith, who was a tow truck driver. Griffith reported earlier Thursday that he and another Affordable Towing employee were shot at when they went to Glen Park to pick up a scrap car.
Police have identified the man who came out of the house where the scrap car was parked and fired a shot at the pair before his gun jammed.
“We are talking to Gary to see if there is a connection between the shooting in Gary and ours,” Hughes said.
He said police recovered shell casings from a large-caliber weapon but are unsure if that weapon is an AK-47 or SKS, which can both use the same caliber ammunition.
Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris said Griffith was shot three times. Two of the wounds were potentially lethal.
“We are not exactly sure which one was fatal,” Harris said.
A forensic autopsy was completed Friday in Mishawaka.
One bullet hit Griffith in the chest, damaging several organs. A second shot went through his right leg and hit his left leg cutting his femoral artery. The third bullet left a grazing wound.
The death certificate will be finalized Monday, Harris said.
