The 25-year-old man killed Sunday in a fusillade of bullets that wounded seven others was wearing two gold chains, one worth $20,000, his family said Monday.
It was those chains, said the friends and family of Theodore “Ted” Padilla, that caused Padilla to be picked on at the Hush nightclub in the moments before he was shot on 15th Street between Market and Blake streets in Lower Downtown.
“They (the group that was picking on Padilla) made some comment that they wanted to add the necklaces to their collection,” said Christina Olson, Padilla’s cousin.
“They are ‘Rock Star’ necklaces,” she said. “I think they were trying to figure out how to take them from him.”
She said that her cousin, who was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 160 pounds, was small in height and probably appeared an inviting target to his harassers.
Olson said the heavy yellow gold chain – which had a gold medallion inscribed with the Aztec calendar – was given to Padilla by his father, who died in 1983.
She said Padilla bought the second chain – a white gold necklace with a diamond-encrusted pendant – a week ago. She said it is worth $20,000.
Padilla’s family doesn’t know where the chains are but hopes they are with his personal belongings being held by police and yet to be released to the family.
Another cousin, Dale Sasse, said on Sunday that he was celebrating his birthday with Padilla and other friends at the Hush when a group of about 15 people singled out Padilla for harassment.
He said that when his group emerged from the club, the second group was waiting for them and started following them when gunfire erupted.
Padilla, a father of three, was killed, and seven others were wounded in a spray of bullets fired by an unidentified gunman. Three victims were released Sunday. The conditions of the remaining four victims are unknown.
Rob McGowan, 27, who works at the Poor House Pub, 1435 Market St., said the vehicle from which the shots were fired tore through Lower Downtown “burning rubber the entire time.”
McGowan, who said he is a trained audio engineer and was on the pub’s rooftop patio at the time of the shooting, said the vehicle either turned onto Market from 14th Street or came out of the parking lot next to the Old Chicago restaurant on the southwest corner of 14th and Market, screeching its tires as it did so.
“It tore up Market and made a left on 15th,” McGowan said. “Two and a half seconds later, after it turned onto 15th, I heard all the shots,” McGowan said.
Then the vehicle “screeched onto Blake Street,” he said. McGowan said he heard eight shots.
Police said Monday they are looking for two American-made full-size trucks, possibly Fords, they believe were involved in the shootings.
One truck is described as gray or green with some type of molding and clear windows. The second truck is described as burnt orange or maroon with tinted windows and noisy brakes.
