Detectives aren’t getting a lot of help as they continue to investigate last week’s shooting death of a 19-year-old Odessa man, Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis said Wednesday.
On Dec. 19, Jeremiah Nathaniel Padilla, 19, was mortally wounded outside his residence in the 13000 block of Firewater Trail when he went outside to greet people inside a pickup truck around 6 p.m.
Padilla died at Medical Center Hospital and a short time later an unnamed 16-year-old boy who was in the pickup truck and also shot was dropped off at Odessa Regional Medical Center. Investigators weren’t immediately able to speak with him due to his condition, Griffis said.
Crime scene techs found shell casings from two caliber weapons at the scene and inside the truck, Griffis said.
Last week it was unclear how many people were in the truck and who among them fired the rounds that killed Padilla, he said.
The younger boy has since regained consciousness, the sheriff said.
“We attempted to speak to the injured 16-year-old male. He lawyered up on us,” Griffis said. “We did speak to a juvenile female who we believe was present during the shooting, but she was not cooperative. We have had little cooperation from anyone. We are still digging.”
Griffis said his detectives believe they’ll be able to make more than one arrest once they gather more evidence.
