Creighton Baseball Director Shot and Killed Outside Omaha Home

OMAHA–(KFOR/AP Sept. 30)–Creighton Baseball director of operations Christopher Gradoville, 37, was shot and killed outside a Benson neighborhood home in north-central Omaha on Thursday morning.

According to Omaha Police, shots were fired after 7:30 a.m. at a house near 61st and Pratt streets. A police report says officers arriving at the scene found Gradoville lying in the yard of a residence with multiple gunshot wounds. Paramedics declared him dead at the scene as police searched for the suspect.

Officers later tracked down and arrested the tenant, 43-year-old Ladell Thornton. He was arrested on charges of first-degree murder, use of a weapon to commit a felony, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Thornton was booked into Douglas County Corrections.

Creighton director of baseball operations Chris Gradoville as a member of the Bluejay baseball team, where he played from 2004 to 2007. (Courtesy of Creighton Athletics)

The Omaha World-Herald reports that Thornton had recently rented the home and Gradoville had shown up to do some maintenance work he promised to do for a realty company he sold the house to after flipping it. The realty company rented the house to Thornton.

Gradoville not only worked for Creighton but was a former Bluejays baseball player from 2004-2007, after a standout high school career at Omaha Bryan. Gradoville later played minor league baseball.