A shoot-out in December that resulted in the death of a 19-year-old Odessa man and this week’s arrest of a 16-year-old boy occurred during an “illegal transaction involving firearms,” according to an Ector County Sheriff’s Office report obtained Thursday.
The boy made his first court appearance Thursday morning before Judge Brooke Hendricks, who ordered him detained at the Ector County Youth Center. His next hearing is set for March 30.
According to the ECSO report, investigators have determined that the 16-year-old went to a home in the 13000 block of West Firewater Trail on Dec. 19 to meet with Jeremiah Nathaniel Padilla to trade a weapon and the two ended up exchanging approximately 10 gunshots.
Both teenagers were struck.
Padilla was taken by first responders to Medical Center Hospital where he died and the 16-year-old and a bullet-riddled Chevrolet Silverado were dropped off at Odessa Regional Medical Center by a young girl.
According to the report, the 16-year-old’s mother refused to allow him to give investigators his version of events, but a witness to the shooting identified him as being the only person inside the Chevy who fired a weapon. In addition, security camera footage shows the boy arriving, the shooting and the Chevy leaving, the report stated.
“At the time (the suspect) was dropped off at (the hospital), the firearm used during the shooting, and possibly the one being traded, were both missing,” the report stated.
ECSO investigators arrested the teenager Tuesday while conducting a search warrant in the 1300 block of Whitaker Avenue.
Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis said his office is still investigating a triple shooting involving teenagers that took place March 6 at an underage drinking party in West Odessa.
Deputies learned of an ambulance being summoned for a shooting victim shortly after midnight in the 12000 block of Middle Ground Drive.
When deputies arrived, they found a 16-year-old boy with a gunshot wound and he was taken to Medical Center Hospital where an 18-year-old boy and a girl had been already been taken by someone in a privately-owned vehicle, Griffis said.
Griffis said Wednesday they’ve not been able to get anyone to identify the shooter or shooters. The parents who hosted the party have been cooperative and no charges have been filed against them as of yet, he said.
Two of the three gunshot victims have been released from the hospital and the 16-year-old boy remains hospitalized in stable condition, Griffis said.
