Man fatally shot during road rage incident in Portage

A man died early Christmas Day, a week after being shot during a road rage incident in northwest Indiana.

Officers responded to a call of gunshots, a crash and people arguing at Mulberry and Willowdale roads in Portage about 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18, according to a report from Portage police.

They found 28-year-old Joshua Smith suffering from a gunshot wound and his frantic 29-year-old girlfriend, according to the police report.

Smith’s girlfriend told police they were involved in a road rage incident when three males attacked her and one of them shot her boyfriend, police said.

Smith, of the 2400 block of Wells Street in Lake Station, was pronounced dead a week later at 1:22 a.m. Dec. 25 at Methodist Hospital Northlake Gary, according to the Lake County coroner’s office. His death was ruled a homicide.

Portage police are continuing to investigate.