Tampa dog park shooter testifies about violent attack, denies hate crime

TAMPA — For 10 months, the world has heard that Gerald Declan Radford shot and killed John Walter Lay because he was gay. On Friday, Radford spoke publicly for the first time and said that wasn’t true.

Radford took the witness stand in a Tampa courtroom and gave a detailed account of how the shooting occurred and the circumstances that preceded it.

“I don’t know if I told him to stop or not,” Radford said. “But he wasn’t stopping.”

Radford, 66, is charged with second-degree murder in Lay’s death. The shooting happened Feb. 2 at West Dog Park, an expansive area of woods and grass fields just south of Leto High School and northwest of Tampa city limits.

Friends of both men said Radford had been harassing Lay for months with homophobic slurs and threats. But Radford has claimed Lay was the aggressor and that the shooting was self-defense.

Radford was the star witness in a daylong hearing for a judge to determine whether he should be granted immunity from prosecution under Florida’s stand your ground law. The controversial law says that a person faced with a violent confrontation has no duty to retreat and can use deadly force if they reasonably believe it’s necessary to protect themselves.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Samantha Ward is expected to issue a ruling on the matter next week.

Bald, with a white beard that had grown long over nine months in jail, Radford wore orange and gestured with shackled wrists as he recounted the shooting.

He said he started visiting the dog park about a dozen years ago. Lay started showing up there much later than he did. They were first cordial with each other, but their relationship deteriorated over time. It had to do with politics.

Lay was liberal. Radford was conservative. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pair frequently disagreed over issues like lockdowns and mask-wearing.

Everyone knew Lay was gay, Radford said. He came out to their group of friends at the dog park one day. Radford said he had no problem with it. He shook his hand and congratulated him. He told him he didn’t believe people should live in the dark about who they are.

At the same time, Radford admitted that he frequently used homophobic slurs to refer to Lay. He’d even said it to his face.

He was asked if he understood that those terms are offensive.

“I do now,” he said.

Radford said the tension began after Lay asked him if he’d like to have a beer with him sometime. Radford took it as a sexual advance and made it clear he wasn’t interested.

He continued to see Lay regularly on his daily visits to the dog park. Friction between them grew to the point that, Radford claimed, Lay would periodically utter threats. Multiple witnesses recalled Lay saying, “We’re going to come to blows one day.”

Other times, Radford claimed, Lay told him he’d “kick your ass” and “cave your head in.”

“I never thought he had the guts to attack me,” Radford said.

Radford’s words contradicted those of their mutual friends. A parade of seven witnesses, each of whom knew Lay and Radford from the dog park, trooped to the witness stand to describe each man’s reputation and share stories about their fraught interactions.

They consistently described Lay as laid-back, trustworthy, a pacifist. They described Radford as aggressive, disrespectful and hostile toward Lay.

“He talked about how he didn’t like him and how he wanted to punch him in the jaw,” recalled William Genovese.

Genovese recalled Radford telling him that he liked to sneak up on Lay to scare him. As their feud escalated, more than one person recalled incidents in which Radford would walk up to Lay in the park and block his path.

“I said to (Radford), what are you trying to do?” said Albert Darlington, who was Lay’s landlord. “Get him to run into you so you’ll have a fight?”

Radford, he said, just smiled.

“Everybody thought he was an a–hole,” Darlington said.

“I admitted it,” Radford said on the witness stand. “I can be an a–hole.”

Radford’s defense argued that a text message Lay sent the day before the shooting indicated that he planned to attack Radford.

“He doesn’t really intimidate me,” Lay wrote. “I thought, if he blocks my path again, I’ll try to tackle him. He’s really older than he looks. He’s weak and feeble. I’ll keep you informed. This weekend should be drama.”

About 18 hours later, Lay was dead.

The day of the shooting, Radford said he was feeling down because one of his two German shepherds had recently died. He came to the park and “moped around.” He walked the park for some time before Lay arrived. He said Lay came right up to him after walking through the gate.

“Why do you still come here?” he said Lay asked. “We … hate you here.”

“I said, ‘Walt, get away from me,’” Radford recalled. “My dog just died. Leave me alone.”

The two men passed each other. Moments later, Radford said he turned and saw Lay moving closer to him. He attacked, straddling Radford’s left leg and “hammer fisting” against him. He fell to the ground, landing on his right side. He noted that he has several health ailments and previous injuries.

“Was he stronger than you?” asked defense attorney Mathew Futch.

“Much,” Radford said.

With Lay on top of him, Radford reached for his 9 mm pistol. A struggle began over the gun. He said Lay had both hands on the weapon at one point and that he could feel Lay’s finger on the trigger. He described the gun angling downward as they both grappled for control. He thought Lay was trying to turn the weapon toward him.

“I heard a loud bang,” he said. “A bright flash of light.”

Lay stopped moving and Radford pulled himself out from under him. He disarmed the weapon and called 911.

The prosecutor, Justin Diaz, showed a series of photos of Lay’s body, taken during his autopsy, documenting numerous small wounds and scrapes to his face, his chin, his head, his back. All were consistent with Lay having been in a fight. He died from a single gunshot wound to his upper right chest.

Kelly Devers, Hillsborough County’s chief medical examiner, said that marks around the wound indicated the gun fired from less than an inch away. The bullet took a downward trajectory through his body, settling in his lower back.

The bullet’s path indicated that the gun had to have been pointed at a downward angle when it was fired. The doctor and the prosecutor used a pair of human skeleton models, one life-size and clad in a medical examiner jacket, and a fake pistol to demonstrate how the gun would have to be positioned to make such a wound.

Devers opined that it would have been possible, but difficult, for the gun to be fired if the shooter was on his back with the victim on top of him.

Diaz argued that the physical evidence and Radford’s statements made it clear that his story was not true. He also played portions of recorded jail phone calls Radford made after he was arrested. In one of them, he described Lay with a homophobic slur.

“Mr. Radford is the aggressor,” Diaz said. “Mr. Radford is the angry man. Mr. Radford is the man with hate in his heart.”