Photo: Texas Prison System / Courtesy
AUSTIN – The young Hispanic who was serving a sentence of 40 years in a Texas prison for shooting a female classmate six times in a high school cafeteria in 2018 died in jail.
Chad Padilla, of 20 years, died on 21 in March at the Telford Unit in New Boston. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Jail staff reportedly found Padilla unconscious around 1: 40 am and applied first aid.
The prisoner was taken to the medical center where he was pronounced dead around 2: 25 am
Prison officials said Padilla’s cause of death is still has not been confirmed and that his death is being investigated as a suicide.
Padilla, who was serving a sentence of 40 years to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted capital murder, pleaded guilty in June 2018 to shooting six times to Mahkayla Jones in the Italy High School cafeteria in January of 2018.
Jones, who survived the shooting, testified that she hugged Padilla in the cafeteria, asked her to sit down and told her that she seemed angry . She said that’s when he backed away and said, “I’m sorry it had to end this way,” and she shot him six times.
In an interview of 2021 with NBC 5, Jones he forgave Padilla for the shooting and said it was time to move on with her life.
“I want to go places and I want to be someone who makes a difference,” Jones said.
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