John Walter Lay (L) was fatally shot at West Dog Park in Tampa (R) final week. (Facebook/Yelp)
Last week, a 52-year-old homosexual man was fatally shot in a Tampa canine park in what his mates are describing as a hate crime.
When he was shot, the sufferer had reportedly simply had a run-in with one other man who had allegedly been harassing him on the park for months, repeatedly threatening him and hurling homophobic slurs.
The Tampa Bay Times reports that the day earlier than a person fatally shot John Walter Lay – generally known as Walt – Lay recorded a video of himself talking on to the digital camera, explaining, “So this morning while I’m walking — and we’re the only two here — (the gunman) comes up to me and screams at me, ‘You’re going to die, you’re going to die,’ and I asked him to just leave me alone, and so far he has.”
Friends of Lay informed The Tampa Bay Times that the subsequent morning, on the identical park and at about the identical time , the person shot Lay useless.
A neighborhood sheriff’s workplace have confirmed that 65-year-old Gerald Declan Radford was the shooter. He claims he shot Lay in self-defence. However, his mates don’t agree that may have been the case.
“In my opinion, there’s no way in hell this is really self-defense,” stated Albert Darlington, 68, who was Lay’s good friend and landlord. “For over a year, Dec has done nothing but harass Walt. He screams and hollers and calls him a f—-t every time he gets to the dog park. He’ll sit there and he’ll say, ‘I’d like to punch him right in the f–king mouth’ … and it has gotten worse and worse and worse.”
Florida has been a hotbed of anti-LGBTQ+ exercise just lately, a lot of it instigated by Republican governor Ron DeSantis. In May 2023 alone, six new bills have been signed by DeSantis in attacking LGBTQ+ rights within the state.
In response to that, Equality Florida and the Human Rights Campaign issued up to date journey recommendation for LGBTQ+ individuals contemplating visiting or transferring to Florida, telling queer individuals to “reconsider” their plans and that it was not a safe place for LGBTQ+ travellers to visit.
Lay’s mates informed The Tampa Bay Times that he labored in customer support for a well being care firm, and delivered meals and drove for Uber within the evenings. One of his mates added, “He was nice to everyone and treated everybody as a human being.”
His mates declare that Lay and Radford have been initially on pleasant phrases. But after Radford discovered that Lay was overtly homosexual, Radford started to focus on Lay, calling him slurs when he was walking within the park. It’s stated that Radford’s politics ‘leaned to the right’.
The Tampa Bay Times reviewed Radford’s Facebook web page and located that it included reposted memes that have been disparaging to LGBTQ+ individuals.
It’s believed that the shooter is but to be arrested or charged.
”We appeared round at one another and I believed, this man simply killed our good friend and he isn’t in handcuffs?” one in all Lay’s mates is reported as saying. “It was unbelievable to us.”
As the neighborhood mourns Lay’s loss, his trustworthy canine Fala stands as a poignant reminder of his enduring legacy. Lay’s remaining want was {that a} good friend in Tampa would soak up his canine if something occurred to him, as he wished to make sure Fala’s continued care throughout the acquainted confines of the Tampa neighborhood he known as home.
Lay’s good friend intends to proceed to walk Fala within the canine park regardless of the deadly attack, explaining that Fala “would be happier with the Tampa pack he already knows”.
