A notorious fatal shooting in Lubbock goes quiet after Chad Read’s surviving family agrees to settle wrongful death lawsuit against developer Kyle Carruth Finish.
The 237th District Court issued the verdict on November 22, ending a dispute between Chad Reed’s widow, Jennifer Reed, and his mother, Jinx Reed, in December 2021, one month after the fatal shooting. Wrongful death lawsuit filed by Carruth.
The ruling comes about three weeks after the lawsuits, which were consolidated in 2023, are scheduled to go to trial on Nov. 4.
Carruth’s insurance company will pay an average of $20,000 to Read’s four children, the documents said.
Jennifer Read is seeking $50,000,000 in damages from Carruth.
However, the document states that Jennifer Reed and Carruth will resolve the case privately.
Carruth’s attorney, H. Grady Terrill, declined to comment for this article, citing pending litigation. Jennifer Reed’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chad Read shot and killed in south Lubbock
The lawsuits stem from a Nov. 5, 2021, incident involving Chad Read at the Carruth residence and office he shared with his ex-wife, Christina Read, in the 2100 block of 90th Street shot during a child custody dispute.
During the argument, Christina Reed’s boss Carruth told Chad Reed to leave.
Jennifer Read, who is seeking custody of her husband’s children, posted video Wednesday of the Nov. 5 shooting death of Chad Read.
Reed ignored Carruth and continued to argue with his ex-wife.
Meanwhile, Carruth went into his home and returned with a rifle.
A fight broke out between the two, and as the two struggled for the weapon, Carruth fired a warning shot at Reed’s foot. During the struggle, Carruth was thrown several feet but still held onto his rifle. He turned and fired two shots at Reed, who was hit and killed.
Lubbock police responded to the shooting and Carruth was not arrested.
While Lubbock Special Crimes Unit investigators were looking into the case, Lubbock County District Attorney Sunshine Stanek recused herself from the case, citing concerns that Carruth had conflicts with local elected officials, the district judge relationship, the latter may testify in the case.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office took over the investigation.
Special grand jury declines to indict Kyle Carruth
In April 2022, a specially convened Lubbock County grand jury reviewed the shooting but declined to return an indictment charging Carruth with a crime in the shooting.
Jennifer Reed claimed in her lawsuit against Carruth that Carruth “engaged in unnecessary verbal and physical confrontations with Chad Reed and interfered in matters that had nothing to do with him.”
In a press conference shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Jennifer Reed said she and her husband went to Carruth’s residence to pick up one of Chad Reed’s sons, who was supposed to have an early date under the custody agreement. An hour with his father.
Tony Buzby (right) recounts the shooting death of Chad Reed on November 5 and appeals for anyone with information about the case to come forward.
“We went there just to find his son who we thought would be there,” she said. “Chad is not a violent man. He doesn’t have a gun.
Carruth taps former Lubbock police chief as expert
However, Reed did not comply with the court-ordered custody agreement, according to a report from former Lubbock Police Chief Greg Stevens.
“Chad Reed did not go to Kyle Carruth’s home to pick up his son…” Stevens wrote. “Instead, he was there to assert his power over his ex-wife, Christina Reed, and Kyle Carruth. Chad Reed trespassed and attempted to interfere with the legal custody of Christina Reed, their youngest child. .
Stevens, who retired as LPD chief of police two years before the shooting, was hired by Carruth in 2022 as an expert to review the case.
In January, Stevens was named executive director of the Texas Law Enforcement Commission.
Greg Stevens
Stevens’ report was not filed until September 2024, when he was named an expert in the case and was expected to testify at the trial.
As part of the investigation, Stevens spoke with Carruth and reviewed phone data from Chad Reed, Christina Reed, Jennifer Reed and Kyle Carruth.
Stevens learned that on the day of the shooting, one of the Reeds’ sons was at home sick and did not come to school to wait for his father to pick him up.
Under Reed’s custody agreement, Chad Reed was allowed to pick up his children from school while in custody. However, because the youngest child did not go to school that day, the court ordered Read to pick up her son from Christina’s home at 6 p.m.
“Christina specifically told Chad that Colton did not go to Kyle’s home/business with her and told him that she would have him ready at her residence at 6 p.m.,” Stevens wrote. “
Stevens said text messages between Reid and Christina that day showed that Reid knew their youngest child was at home while her mother was at work.
“I’m on my way to see your mom with the police,” Chad texted Christina.
However, instead of going to his ex-mother-in-law’s house or picking up his other son from school, Reed went directly to Carruth’s business to confront Christina, Stevens wrote.
Stevens discovered that Reed had sent a text message to his son, who was still at school, telling him: “Don’t tell your mom we haven’t found you yet.”
Stevens’ report indicates that the confrontation that led to the shooting appeared to be an escalation of a months-long campaign of harassment begun by Reed, which included having private investigators follow Carruth in search of evidence to humiliate him.
Reports described Reed as a vindictive ex-husband bent on ruining his ex-wife’s life. He thought Carruth was dating her, but she seemed to be caught in the crossfire.
“Chad has developed some kind of crush or obsession with Kyle and wants to prove that he and Christina are in a relationship,” Steven wrote. “Chad believes this to be true regardless of its actual veracity or any evidence or lack thereof evidence.”
Phone data appears to show Jennifer Reed shared and encouraged her husband’s obsession.
Text messages between Jennifer and Chad reportedly indicate the couple wanted damaging information from their son to use against their mother in court.
“I want her so badly – with her life,” Jennifer Reed texted Chad. “I need it.”
Stevens said he found no evidence that Christina and Kyle’s relationship went beyond the confines of the office.
Stevens learned that in July of that year, Jennifer and Chad Reed had been spreading rumors that they were dating. According to his report, Jennifer’s “card reader” and “spiritual advisor” wrote a letter that appeared to confirm a romantic relationship and mailed it to numerous people.
Stevens wrote that Jennifer worked hard to make sure the letters were “fingerprint-free.”
At the time of the shooting, Carruth was in the process of divorcing then-72nd District Court Judge Anne Marie Carruth.
Their divorce records include an affidavit filed with the court by Anne-Marie Carruth, who said she “received notice that my husband, William Kyle Carruth, had died late Friday afternoon. The father of his girlfriend’s child was under investigation for shooting while trying to pick up the child.” My knowledge of this incident is very limited at the moment, and as far as I know, the police are still investigating. “
Chad Read’s phone records show he attempted to meet with Anne-Marie Carruth and said he had “information that would be of interest to you” about her soon-to-be ex-husband . However, it seems that the two have never met.
Meanwhile, Chad Reed’s phone data also revealed that he secretly took photos of Christina’s vehicle parked in Carruth’s home office.
About a month before the fatal confrontation, Chad and Jennifer hired private investigators to follow Christina and Kyle Carruth before, during and after a public fundraiser.
The couple provided investigators with a “vast amount of information” about Christina and Kyle, including addresses, vehicle descriptions and license plate numbers, to facilitate the efforts, which the couple called “the operation.”
During the event, a private investigator captured a photo of Carruth standing with six other people – one man and five women. His shirt was unbuttoned and he wore the crown he received at the event.
Chad Read shared the photo with multiple people and made derogatory comments.
Reed texted a friend: “If your spouse went out with his girlfriend (Christina), would you want to be a district judge in Lubbock?”
The day before the shooting, Reed met two prominent members of the community at a restaurant. During the meeting, Reed shared the photo and reportedly told them Carruth “needs to have his ass whipped.”
Stevens reports fatal shooting
Stevens said there was no reason for Chad Reed to be at Carruth’s residence, which was also being used as an office, on the day of the shooting. He said if Reed believed his ex-wife was illegally withholding their son, he should let the police handle the matter.
“Chad never expressed any concern that (his son) was in any imminent danger, so certainly there was no urgency,” Stevens wrote.
He said Reed’s behavior that day was driven by his obsession and anger toward his ex-wife and Carruth.
Meanwhile, Stevens said that while Carruth did not have the authority to use deadly force against Reed at the time, he did have the authority to arm himself to protect Christina, himself and two employees in the office, one of whom called police.
However, Stevens said Lubbock police had previously been called to the address on an unrelated matter but had difficulty locating it. In fact, police had difficulty finding the residence on the day of the shooting.
“Considering that Chad is significantly larger and stronger than Kyle, Chad has exhibited angry, aggressive and combative behavior since arrival, and Kyle knows that Chad is a potentially violent individual who has previously Having been in prison, it was reasonable for Kyle to arm himself. “Kyle had reason to fear that the situation could turn violent at Chad’s hands and that violence would be directed against him or Christina or another of his employees. “
Federal court records show Read was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2009 after pleading guilty to money laundering charges. However, Reed does not appear to have been charged with any violent crime.
Stevens said Carruth had no intention of using the weapon that day but hoped to scare Reed away when he returned with a Ruger 9 mm carbine.
“(Carruth) told me that he chose that gun because at the time he felt it was the ‘biggest and scariest’ gun he had on hand,” Stevens wrote.
Stevens said a reasonable person might have evacuated upon seeing a weapon.
“(Carruth) was counting on (Reed) to have this normal reaction; however, (Reed) was not a normally reasonable person, at least not on the afternoon of November 5, 2021,” Stevens wrote. “
In footage of the confrontation, Reed can be heard telling Carruth after seeing him holding the weapon: “Do it, you better use it, mom, because I’m going to do it and I’m going to take it away from you. It, then – use it on you!
He said Carruth barely managed to hold on to his weapon after Reed shook him off “with brute force” and believed Reed would attack him again, take his rifle and threaten him. Use it.
It wasn’t until the men struggled with the gun that Carruth feared for his life and shot Reed, Stevens said.
“Kyle Carruth feared for his life,” Stevens wrote. “He believed and realized that Chad Reed was about to attack him again and if he did so or was able to remove the rifle, Kyle believed he would suffer death or at least serious bodily harm.”
This article originally appeared in Lubbock Avalanche Journal: Report unveils Kyle Carruth, Chad Reed wrongful death lawsuits
