Prosecutor says slaying of firefighter in 2013 was a hit

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

A prosecutor says a Cleveland firefighter who was fatally shot in his driveway in 2013 was the victim of an orchestrated hit involving a man who was dating his stepdaughter.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Brian Murphy told a judge Friday that 21-year-old Chad Padgett sent several text messages seeking a gun in the days leading up to Lt. William Walker’s Nov. 3, 2013, slaying.

The Northeast Ohio Media Group reported that the judge set Padgett’s bond at $1 million on Friday after he was charged the previous day with aggravated murder.

He didn’t enter a plea.

Murphy said investigators are still working to identify others who may have been involved, but consider Padgett “a contributing factor” in the plot.