Miguel Padilla

Miguel Padilla, a 41-year-old Hispanic man from Chicago, was remembered by friends as a loving and caring person who went out of his way for everyone. Born with cerebral palsy, he never allowed his disability to define him. A close friend, Lourdes Rivera, said, "He didn't have feeling in one hand, but it didn't stop him from life. He kept going." She considered him like a son, and his mother, who was left distraught by his death, "loved him very deeply."

In the early morning hours of October 21, 2021, a gunman began a violent spree in Chicago. Around 1 a.m., he argued with and fatally shot 25-year-old Jose Francisco Mata Ayala at a bus stop in the Logan Square neighborhood. The shooter then fled on foot to the nearby Hermosa neighborhood. In the 2300 block of North Keystone Avenue, he encountered Miguel Padilla, who was standing in front of his car after parking. The assailant attempted to carjack him, and during the ensuing struggle, he shot Padilla once in the chest. Emergency services rushed Padilla to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, but he was pronounced dead.

The gunman escaped in Padilla’s vehicle, a 2016 brown Buick Encore. The stolen car became a crucial piece of evidence for investigators. Chicago police tracked the vehicle and alerted authorities in Wisconsin that the suspect was believed to be in their jurisdiction. Later that same day, around 11:15 a.m., Kenosha County Sheriff's deputies located the Buick at a gas station in Bristol, Wisconsin.

When deputies confronted the man, he fled on foot with a gun in his hand. A police K9 named Riggs was released to pursue him. The dog caught up to the suspect and took him down near a highway, but the man shot the K9 in the face. Deputies then opened fire, wounding the suspect and taking him into custody. Authorities later identified the man as Allan M. Brown of Countryside, Illinois. As of October 2021, Chicago police had linked Brown to both the murder of Miguel Padilla and the earlier killing of Jose Francisco Mata Ayala.