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