Autopsy shows motorcycle gang member was shot twice on New Year's Day

An autopsy report for a gang member shot and killed on his motorcycle on New Year's Day revealed he had alcohol in his system at the time.

The autopsy report released Thursday for Jonas Padilla, 37, a member of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Gang, showed he was shot in the chest and leg on Jan. 1, 2023.

Neighbors told WRAL News they heard gunshots after a motorcycle crash around 5 p.m. on Jan. 1 on Bayberry Lane near Fawndale Drive. The Valley Estates neighborhood is just west of Lead Mine Road.

Investigators said a man was thrown from his motorcycle. He was transported to the hospital but died from his injuries.

Sources identified the man as Padilla, who lived nearby, according to his neighbors and friends.

Five men were charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy robbery with a dangerous weapon in the shooting death of Padilla, arrest warrants show.

Sources told WRAL Investigates the five men facing murder charges were with a rival gang to Padilla's known as the Red Devils. Many of the men arrested display the biker gang Red Devils on their motorcycle vests in pictures posted to their Facebook pages.

Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association Executive Director Steve Cook has studied biker gangs for nearly 30 years.

Cook told WRAL Investigates about their expansion nationwide.

“They are not street gangs,” Cook said. “They are more like the mob. They are more like organized crime on wheels.”

“Each one of these groups wants to be king of the hill, top of the mountain,” Cook said.

Men charged in Raleigh murder involving rival motorcycle gangs appear in court