42-year-old prisoner sentenced to death in California stabbed to death with homemade weapon

An investigation is underway after a 42-year-old Southern California inmate serving a life sentence without parole was stabbed to death over the weekend, prison officials said.

Investigators at the California Department of Corrections’ Ironwood State Prison said Luis Padilla was attacked by three inmates around 7 p.m. on June 22, suffering numerous stab wounds.

“Staff immediately raised the alarm,” the CDCR said in a press release. “The three attackers fled the area but were quickly located and arrested without incident.”

The 42-year-old was given life-saving measures and was taken by medical staff to the triage and treatment area of ​​Ironwood State Prison.

Padilla, who was transferred to the facility from Los Angeles County in 2001, was pronounced dead at 7:38 p.m., prison officials said.

At the crime scene, investigators found two weapons made by prisoners.

The three suspects in the fatal attack, 28-year-old Samual Ricardez, 23-year-old Jonathan Orduno and 26-year-old Juan Madrigal, all of whom were transferred from San Diego County and are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, have been transferred to probation housing while the Riverside County Investigative Division and District Attorney’s Office investigate.

Opened in 1994, Ironwood State Prison houses more than 3,100 minimum, medium and maximum security inmates.