Family of man killed at Tampa dog park haunted by loved one’s last video message
TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa man's final video message is haunting his loved ones a week and a half after his death, the man's family and friends said Monday.
John Walter Lay, 52, recorded a message on Feb. 1 in which he described an interaction with another man at West Dog Park In Tampa.
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"This morning, while I'm walking, we're the only two here, and he comes up to me and screams at me, 'you're going to die! You're going to die,'" Lay said in the video.
The next day, Lay was shot and killed in the dog park. According to family and friends, the man he'd been describing in the video was the one who shot him.
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the shooter was Gerald Declan Radford. FOX 13 called and texted Radford, but he did not respond.
Lay's sister, Sabrena Hughes, said Radford had been harassing her brother for about two years. She said that caused her brother to start going to a different dog park, before his friends convinced him to return.
John Walter Lay in one of his messages for his sister
"My best friend is what he was to me my whole life so far, until [that] Friday, when that man shot him and killed him," Hughes said. "He was funny. He was articulate. He was an artist. Any positive word that there is to describe a person would be my brother. He was amazing."
Albert Darlington was a good friend of Lay, who friends knew as ‘Walt.’ They would go together to the dog park where Darlington said he witnessed the harassment from Radford. Lay, according to Darlington, would never engage.
West Dog Park in Tampa
"[He was] a very gentle guy," Darlington said. "It's surreal. It's like it's a dream, you know? And since it's happened, I wake up in the middle of the night. Just like there's a big empty hole there."
Darlington also knew Radford well and said, the day of the shooting, Radford sent him a text message that he has since shared with Hillsborough detectives. In it, Radford, who included a photo with apparent injuries to his face, wrote, 'I'm so sorry to tell you, Walt attacked me at the park and I had to defend myself.'
Friends and family found it hard to believe Lay would be the aggressor.
John Walter Lay's sister, Sabrena
"I don't know what happened, but I don't buy that Walt attacked anybody," said Darlington, adding he witnessed Lay constantly try to avoid Radford.
"One thing he was not was violent and he never, ever would have attacked anyone," said Hughes. "I, of course, just want justice for my brother. And I believe, in my heart, the deepest part of my heart, if we had any kind of a psychic connection, I believe that my brother did not attack him."
Lay's sister said he would send her and their mother daily video messages, with morning greetings and updates about his life. The last one she received was sent hours before Lay recorded the video about the alleged threat on his life.
"I would see those videos from my brother to me and my mom. So I'm already missing that," Hughes said through tears.
Radford has not been charged. A sheriff's office spokesperson said the case has been handed over to the Hillsborough State Attorney, who will decide whether charges will be filed.