CNS News– A 52-year-old gay man was shot and killed at a Tampa dog park last month. On Friday, Florida officials said that a man has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the shooting. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office says that Gerald Declan Radford, 65, was charged with second-degree murder for shooting and killing John Walter Lay. Radford initially said that he did it in self-defense.
Prosecutors say that Radford used racial slurs against the victim before killing him, and they are now trying to get the charge changed to include a hate crime. ” No one should have to worry about being shot while at the dog park.” “This victim also deserved to live without fear and bias because of his sexual orientation,” said Suzy Lopez, the attorney general for Florida.
“The evidence shows that the defendant did what he did out of hate, and he will be held responsible.” As we fight for justice together, my thoughts are with the victim’s family and many friends. Erin Maloney, a spokeswoman for Lopez, said that Radford is likely to show up in court on Saturday. There was no information available right away about a lawyer for Radford.
Man Charged with Murder 2 Months After Shooting Gay Man at Florida Dog Park: ‘Hatred in His Heart’ https://t.co/KSgM5vLkho
— People (@people) March 8, 2024
LGBTQ rights supporters were happy about the charges, but they didn’t like the state law that lets people off the hook for murder if they say they killed someone to protect themselves. This law is called a “stand your ground” law. Gerald Declan Radford has been arrested, so the courts will decide if he is guilty.
However, the decision is already in on Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law: “This law not only doesn’t protect; it actively puts people in danger by turning what should be last-resort actions into first instincts, which can have tragic results,” Equality Florida, an LGBTQ support group, said in a statement. “The fact that people don’t have to go somewhere safe is too often used to justify killing without any consequences.”
Lopez’s office said in a news release on Friday that some people were upset that it took about a month for the charges to be made. “It is important to remember how hard it can be to fight a Stand Your Ground claim when the only other person who saw what happened has died,” the release said. “As the investigation went on, members of the community came forward with important details about ongoing tensions that helped put the event in its proper context.”
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Lay made a video the day before the killing and sent it to his friends. In it, he said that Radford had threatened to hurt him. The press statement said that this helped the prosecutors make their case for the charges. It’s not clear how Lay and Radford knew each other before the event.