SAN DIEGO (CNS) - One of two men sentenced to prison for a La Jolla house party drive-by shooting that killed a young woman has died while behind bars, state prison officials said Thursday.
Malik Joshua Campbell, 26, was found unresponsive inside his cell Tuesday afternoon at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, officials with California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
He was transported to the prison's triage and treatment area, where he was pronounced dead just after 5 p.m., about a half-hour after prison staff found him in his cell.
Campbell's cellmate, Donte Walker, was placed in restricted housing pending an investigation, according to CDCR, which stated that no weapon was recovered from the scene. CDCR said it is investigating the death as a homicide.
Campbell pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and other charges for the June 23, 2019, shooting death of 20-year-old Nina Silver, who was shot while standing in an alley in the 7500 block of Cuvier Street.
Campbell was sentenced last year to 24 in state prison. His co- defendant, Odyssey Sellers Carrillo, whom prosecutors said was the shooter, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, voluntary manslaughter and other charges, and was sentenced to 35 years in state prison.
Prosecutors allege gang motivations were behind the 12:30 a.m. shooting and that Silver was not the intended target. Silver was shot in the back, while three men were wounded in the shooting.
Campbell had been imprisoned since October of last year.
Walker, 29, was sentenced to four years for second-degree robbery out of Sacramento County and eight months for conspiracy to commit a crime out of Placer County.
