Charges filed in shooting

A Portland man has been charged with murder.
Charles R. “Maddog” Whittington was charged Saturday with two counts of murder in the fatal shootings of 40-year-old Shane Williamson and his 14-year-old daughter Katelin Williamson.
He faces a minimum sentence of 45 years for each charge if convicted.
Whittington, 59, was held at Jay County Jail from the time of his arrest by Portland police early Thursday afternoon until about noon Saturday. He was booked early Saturday afternoon into Blackford County Jail on the murder counts.
The charges stem from an incident Thursday, which led to Hartford City Police being called at 9:13 a.m. to Hartford Square Apartments, 202 E. Chestnut St.
Upon arriving, officers found Shane Williamson in the apartment building’s parking lot with a gunshot wound to the head. They then found Katelin Williamson in an apartment, also with a gunshot wound to the head.
Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene. Autopsies were performed Friday.
Whittington and Shane Williamson had a common female acquaintance, sources told The Commercial Review.
Hartford City police called Portland Police Department about Whittington’s possible involvement Thursday, and Portland officers waited at the suspect’s 839 Boundary Pike home.
He arrived home and was taken into custody without incident, and then was booked into Jay County Jail at 1:41 p.m. Thursday.
He was not armed when police took him into custody.

Officers from HCPD and Blackford County Sheriff’s Office first questioned Whittington at Jay County Jail on Thursday evening, and Hartford City officers were at the facility again Friday.
Thursday’s shootings led to Jay Schools being locked down for about an hour before Whittington was taken into custody. Portland Police Chief Nathan Springer noted that a female acquaintance of Whittington has children who attend Jay County High School and East Jay Middle School.
Blackford County schools were locked down from about 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Katelin Williamson was a freshman at Blackford High School
Signs on the front door of Whittington’s house Thursday identified residence as the home of a Vietnam War veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps. Whittington has a “USMC” tattoo on his neck.
Whittington was shot in a 2014 incident in Portland, but would not give police information at that time and no arrests were made. That incident is not believed to be related to Thursday’s shooting, Springer said.
The building where Thursday’s shootings took place was also the site of a double homicide in 1960. Principal Leonard Redden shot and killed teachers Harriett Robson and Minnie McFerren in what was then William Reed Elementary School. Later the same day, Redden used the murder weapon to take his own life at a northern Delaware County farm.
The building was last used as a school in 1999.
Hartford City police are asking anyone who saw Whittington or his white GMC extended cab truck Thursday to call Blackford County Sheriff’s Office at (765) 348-0930.