Italy High School shooter, 20, pronounced dead at Texas prison, officials say
A 20-year-old man who was serving a 40-year sentence for a 2018 North Texas school shooting was found unresponsive in his prison cell Monday morning.
Chad Padilla was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted capital murder for shooting a 15-year-old girl multiple times at Italy High School in Ellis County when he was 16. He was pronounced dead Monday shortly after he was taken to the prison’s medical facility in New Boston, located about 200 miles east of Fort Worth.
Staff at the Barry B. Telford Unit said they noticed Padilla was unresponsive in his cell around 1:50 a.m.
“Staff entered the cell and began life-saving measures and 911 was contacted. Unit medical staff arrived and assisted with life-saving measures,” a spokesperson from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said. “Inmate Padilla was taken on a gurney to the unit medical facility. EMS arrived and paramedics pronounced inmate Padilla deceased at 2:25 a.m.”
Padilla’s death is being investigated as a suicide by the Office of Inspector General, the Department of Criminal Justice said.
Padilla was taken to the New Boston prison in July 2019 to serve his sentence.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 12:33 PM.
