‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ Fans React to Kaleo Padilla’s Tribute to His Late Father

Fans of Dog the Bounty Hunter and friends of the Padilla family responded in a massive outpouring of love and support to the news that Kaleo Padilla’s father had passed away on Tuesday.

Padilla, who works as the Champans’ security specialist, posted a simple, touching tribute to his father on Facebook, writing: “Love you Dad with all my heart. Can’t say enough about you. Just wish I had a little more time with you.”

Padilla included a candid photo of his father smiling, and he tagged Rodney Padilla in the post. The comment section quickly filled with over two hundred messages of love and support for the Padilla family, as well as grief for the loss of a staple in the community.

“Sorry for your loss [K]aleo,” one person wrote. “[K]eeping you and your family in my prayers”.

“Brother my condolences o you and yo Ohana,” wrote another.

“Sending love and hugs and many blessings to you Bruddah Kaleo and your ‘Ohana,” gushed a third with a string of emojis. “May you celebrate your Dad’s life through many happy memories Aloha”.

Padilla himself jumped into the comments after receiving dozens of well-wishes, thanking his friends and followers for their prayers.

“Thanks everyone, much appreciation from me and my family,” he wrote. “Love you all”.

“Kaleo, I’m so sorry for your loss!!” wrote a fan. “I lost my dad in November. Hold onto those memories!! praying for you and your family.”

“Sorry for your loss kaleo,” added someone else. “I’ve known your dad since I was a little boy growing up in nalo he’s a good man that will be missed by all that knew him my condolences to you and the ohana”.

Beth Chapman posted the same photo on Facebook, writing her own message of mourning for the Rodney Padilla.

“It is with the deepest sadness that we say goodbye,” she wrote on Tuesday. “Please keep Kaleo Padilla a cherished member of our Dog the Bounty Hunter family in your prayers as he [mourns] the death of his father. We love you bruddah, [Gone but not forgotten].”

Beth and her husband, whose real name is Duane Chapman, have been dealing with a lot of emotionally charged realizations lately, and they haven’t been shy about sharing them with fans. Last fall, Beth was diagnosed with stage two throat cancer and underwent a serious surgery, but even that couldn’t guarantee her survival.

After a terrifying battle with the disease and the risky operation, Chapman was finally declared cancer free. She and her husband discussed the process of coming to terms with mortality on their special, Dog and Beth: Fight of Their Lives.

“When we made a pledge many years ago,” Dog told PEOPLE at the time that the special came out. “I said I’d love her in sickness and in health until death do us part. And that truth has really, really come alive in my mind. And I have to stand on that; I gave her an oath that I would love her forever. And thank God it’s not till death do us part at this point.”