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.
He wore the yellow gold chain every day but had worn the newly purchased white gold chain sporadically.
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.
“Some people started hating him for his jewelry — trying to pick a fight,” Sasse said. “They were just causing problems. We were trying to ignore them.”
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.
McGowan said he ran from the pub and down an alley that opened immediately across the street from the Patagonia Clothing store and P.F. Chang’s China Bistro. He said he saw two people on the ground in front of Patagonia Clothing, 5 to 10 feet from one another. The first patrol car was just arriving and a man was pounding on the chest of one of the victims.
“I was shocked,” McGowan said. “But at the same time, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often. There are fights all the time around closing, between 11:30 and 2:30.”
McGowan said a police officer who works off duty at the pub ran to the scene, then ran back to The Poor House to get paper cups to place over the shell casings.
Denver police said Monday afternoon that 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, said Sonny Jackson, spokesman for the Denver Police Department.
Jackson said police welcome any information about the crime, even small details.
Anyone with information regarding the crime or the vehicles is asked to contact the department or Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867).
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
