Grand Jury Declines to Indict Kyle Carruth on Charges in Connection With Shooting Death of Chad Read

A story from Lubbock that made national headlines last year has reached a conclusion.

Thursday afternoon (March 31st), the Texas Attorney General's Office said a Lubbock County Grand Jury declined to indict William Kyle Carruth on any charges related to the shooting death of Chad Read.

Carruth and Read were involved in a confrontation on November 5th, 2021 at a south Lubbock residence that Carruth was both living at and working from. During the confrontation, Carruth was armed and shot Read, instantly killing him at the scene.

Law enforcement's job in the aftermath of the shooting was made more complicated.  Video from the confrontation ended up being released publicly by witnesses who were there at the scene of the deadly shooting. That included one video from the widow of Chad Read, Jennifer Read.

Additionally, the Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office recused itself from investigating the case due to Carruth being married to an elected official at the time of  the shooting, Judge Ann-Marie Carruth.

Following the recusal of the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office, the Texas Attorney General's Office took over the investigation and the presentation of the case to a grand jury.

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The Texas Attorney General's Office released the following statement after the actions of the grand jury:

The Office of the Attorney General, acting as Attorney Pro Tem, presented to a Special Grand Jury of Lubbock County, the investigation into the shooting of Chad Read by Kyle Carruth that occurred in Lubbock, Texas on November 5th, 2021. The presentation of the case included several eyewitnesses, family of Chad Read, and additional evidence that was not previously released to the public. After several days of thorough inspection of the evidence, the Special Grand Jury concluded their investigation into the matter and deliberated on whether the evidence supported the filing of criminal charges against Kyle Carruth. The Special Grand Jury voted today [March 31, 2022] to not indict for any criminal charges against Kyle Carruth.

Following the release of the Attorney General's Office statement, Tony Buzbee, the attorney for the Jennifer Read, vehemently disagreed with the grand jury's lack of action.

"The criminal justice utterly failed Jennifer Read, the widow of Chad Read. Chad Read was involved in a heated discussion with his ex-wife concerning custody of his son. The video shows that Kyle Carruth injected himself into that discussion," Buzbee said in a statement to KFYO News. "We believe there was no legitimate reason for Kyle Carruth to bring a deadly weapon to an argument that he wasn’t even a part of. Chad Read died unarmed, shot and killed while simply trying to determine the whereabouts of his son. The civil matter has been on hold awaiting the outcome of the criminal proceedings. We will now aggressively pursue Jennifer Read’s claims in civil court."

Within two months of Chad Read's death, two wrongful death lawsuits were filed against Kyle Carruth. The first lawsuit is from Read's widow, Jennifer. She filed suit against Carruth and his business holdings, seeking $50 million. A second wrongful death suit was filed by Jinx Read, Chad Read's mother, and his three children. The second suit is seeking over $1 million in damages.