Man charged with murder in Lynwood man’s death held without bail

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Supplied photo of Calvin Griffin

Updated: March 6, 2012 8:15AM

A 22-year-old Gary man was ordered held without bail Friday in the Nov. 28 shooting death of a Lynwood man.

Calvin Griffin, formerly of Chicago Heights, was charged Thursday with murder, home invasion and kidnapping in the slaying of 56-year-old Eugene White Jr., who was found shot to death in his home in the 19800 block of Orchard Avenue the morning of Nov. 28 after his wife told police she had been kidnapped, police said.

Griffin also was charged Thursday with aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by a felon for his alleged role in a separate shooting Oct. 31 in Chicago Heights, according to police. He was given $2 million bail in that case and will return to court Feb. 24 in Markham on all charges.

He was arrested Jan. 27 in Gary, after a domestic dispute, Gary police spokeswoman Cpl. Gabrielle King said.

Gary police charged Griffin with intimidating a police officer, resisting police and battery of a police officer, she said.

Authorities there discovered the outstanding warrant and sent him back to Illinois.

Another suspect still is at large in White’s murder, according to Lynwood police.

White was an employee of the Ford plant in Chicago Heights and coached a basketball team at Living Grace Church in Lynwood. He was pronounced dead at the scene after police found him in a rear bedroom with two gunshot wounds to the chest and one to the head, police said.

Lynwood police said they received a call about 3 a.m. from Cook County sheriff’s police about a woman who had flagged them down in Chicago Heights. The woman told police she had been kidnapped by a man in Chicago Heights and her car was stolen and set on fire.

She told police the man took her back to her Lynwood home before driving her back to Chicago Heights.

In the Chicago Heights shooting, Griffin allegedly shot three victims in the parking lot of Big Boys Restaurant, 417 W. 14th St. All three survived after suffering gunshot wounds to the chest and foot, Detective Art Robles said.

Griffin formerly is from Chicago Heights and has a long history with police there, Robles said.

“We’ve been dealing with him since 2006,” he said.

Griffin previously was charged by Chicago Heights police with unlawful use of a weapon and drug charges, police said.

In court Friday morning, prosecutors told the judge he has prior convictions for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated fleeing and alluding.

According to court records, he was sentenced to two years in prison for those convictions.

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