2 charged with shooting of ATF agent in Gary, Indiana

Two people have been charged in connection with the shooting of an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on Thursday in Gary, Indiana.

Blake King, 19, of Chicago, and Bernard Graham, 25, of Calumet City, are each charged with forcibly assaulting the agent with deadly weapons and inflicting bodily injury, and using a firearm in a crime of violence, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II for the Northern District of Indiana.

Graham has not been taken into custody and a search for him is underway.

The agent was shot in the chest and arm Thursday afternoon when he and his partner were “ambushed” during an undercover operation, officials said.

King, Graham and 28-year-old Raymon Truitt II opened fired on the agents during the operation, officials said. The partner of the agent who was shot then shot Truitt.

Truitt was struck multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.

The shooting Thursday was the second time an ATF agent has been shot in the Chicago area in a little over a month.

On May 4, an undercover ATF agent was wounded in the Back of the Yards neighborhood during an undercover narcotics operation. The agent was shot in the face while he and other agents were putting a tracking device on a vehicle in the 4400 block of South Hermitage.

Ernesto “Ernie’ Godinez has been charged in that earlier case with assaulting the agent, who was released from a hospital a few days after the shooting.