Florida prosecutors have charged a Tampa man with second degree murder and a hate crime enhancement for the shooting death of a gay man at a dog park last month.
Gerald Declan Radford, 65, called 911 and said he had shot 52-year-old John Walter Lay on February 2 at West Dog Park. First responders tried to save Lay’s life and took him to a hospital, where he died.
Radford claimed self-defense and was not arrested at the time since there were no witnesses to the shooting. But further investigation uncovered witnesses who testified to the strained relationship between the two, who were believed to have met at the park, over Lay’s sexual orientation.
Investigators also aound a video Lay recorded the day before in which he said that Radford had threatened him, saying, “You’re going to die.”
“This is absolutely senseless,” Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez told WTVT. “He deserved to be able to go and enjoy that dog park in peace, just like every citizen of Hillsborough County deserves that. We’re absolutely heartbroken, and we’re even more heartbroken because of the fact that this crime appears to have really resulted because of the hatred that this defendant had for this victim and very specifically because of the fact that the victim was gay.”
Lopez said her office believes Radford plans to use Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which essentially allows a defendant a get-out-of-jail free card with not much more than their say-so that they felt threatened.
Lay’s friends and relatives were skeptical of Radford’s story from the start.
“That that truth is actually out there now, is a relief for us, because we just knew that was not … my brother’s personality,” Sabrena Hughes, Lay’s brother, said. “There is no sentence that’s gonna restore my brother’s life. But if this person has that type of hatred and can act out on it, keeping him in jail will hopefully save someone else’s life.”
Florida LGBTQ advocates criticized the state law, NBC News said.
“With the arrest of Gerald Declan Radford, the question of guilt moves to the courts, but the verdict is already in on Florida’s notorious Stand Your Ground law: This law doesn’t just fail to protect; it actively endangers, turning what should be last-resort measures into first instincts, with tragic outcomes,” Equality Florida said in a statement. “The absence of a duty to retreat to safety is too often exploited to justify murder without consequence.”
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[Featured image: John Walter Lay/Facebook and Gerald Declan Radford/Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office]
