Published: June 07, 2009 12:23 am      

Accused killer’s family hopes tragedy draws attention to PTSD

They know most people see a monster, not a son – a beast, not a brother.

But when Karen Horner and her family think of accused murderer Nicholas Horner, they remember the man they love.

Horner, 28, is in prison, charged with killing two people and wounding a third during the robbery of an Altoona sandwich shop on April 6.

His mother understands better than most what the families of 19-year-old Scott Garlick and 64-year-old Raymond Williams are going through, as well as the anguish of Michelle Petty, who was critically injured.

Karen Horner has family ties to a state trooper who was slain in the line of duty in 2002. She recalls weeping and wondering: “What kind of animal could have done this?”

Now, as her own son faces prosecution on double murder charges, Karen and her family have come forward. They say they are not making excuses for the accused, but believe the tragedy should spotlight Nick Horner’s military service and his diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.

“My son is not a monster,” she said, “but I understand why the loved ones of those who are dead will see him that way.

“I cannot compare what we felt back then to what they are feeling now. But I do know it hurt and how it has remained with me. I know what they feel is overwhelming. I understand where they are. I only hope they can some day understand that the monster they see is not the son I sent to Iraq, but a broken man who came back from war.”

‘We are so sorry’

A Blair County judge has ordered a mental evaluation of Nick Horner, who served two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Kuwait. That evaluation is to determine whether Horner understands the crimes he is accused of committing and can assist in his own defense, The Tribune-Democrat has reported.

Horner was raised in the Johnstown area, and retired from the Army in February for medical reasons after eight years of service. Records at the U.S. Department of Defense show that Horner received the Army’s Combat Action Badge, given to soldiers who have actively engaged the enemy in combat.

He was arrested Feb. 2 and charged with drunken driving. Cresson Township police found a .22-caliber pistol, ammunition and pills in his vehicle.

The day after the April shootings, police entered his home with a search warrant.

Records show they found eight different prescription drugs. Police said they found 1,200 pills prescribed for anxiety and depression. Police also found two handguns, two rifles and ammunition, and confiscated medical records and a computer.

“We know they (family of the victims) might never forgive Nick,” said Dawn Horner, Nick’s sister. “We feel so badly for them. We are so sorry.

“We just hope that we can get them and everyone to understand just how bad and big the problem of PTSD is. If all that comes of this is whatever the courts have in store for Nick, then there will be more families like ours trying to help a brother or son who has been accused of a horrible crime, and there will be more families of victims wondering why this had to happen. We want anyone who served their country to get the help they need before they end up in trouble – before they hurt someone.”

The Horners said the military seems to have no clear plan for addressing the growing problem of PTSD.

“They gave (Nick) a box full of pills, seven or eight bottles of different drugs so he could cope,” Dan Horner, father of the accused, said. “The military doctor wanted to keep him in the states for at least a month. They sent him back (to Iraq) right away anyhow, and when he got there he was reprimanded for having the drugs.

“Nick said they told him he was just a number, a body,” he said. “They needed bodies in uniforms and it did not seem to matter where his mind was.”

‘Something was wrong’

Family members said Nick Horner tried to kill himself three times prior to the Altoona shootings. They said he had become moody and short-tempered, living in a daze.

They said he would sometimes curl up in the corner of a room and cry and that, when home, he not only locked his house but locked the room in which he stood.

At different times during the day, family members said, the former U.S. Army sergeant could be found hiding in his basement.

He carried a gun all the time and, when confronted with the notion that maybe it was a bad idea for him to have a weapon, his response was a chilling commentary on life with PTSD.

“I said to him, ‘Nick, I just don’t think it is safe for you to have a gun,’ ” sister Danielle said. “He told me it was just the opposite, that he had to have a gun to feel safe, that he had to have a gun all the time. That if he does not have a gun with him he has panic attacks.”

Danielle said the conversation between sister and brother took place just five days before the shootings in Altoona.

Nick Horner rarely spoke of what he saw or did in Iraq.

What thoughts he did share were of the constant threat of snipers, or of a hand grenade landing on his Humvee and the explosion leaving him unconscious.

Family members said he had visions of kids strapped with bombs who would beg for food. Soldiers would offer up their meals only to have the child explode – once close enough to kill Americans – detonated sometimes, the soldiers thought, by parents standing in the shadows.

Horner reflected on marching into an area and seeing the streets lined with the dead – bodies rotting, stomachs distended.

The stench that hovered over such gruesome sites was burned into his mind’s eye.

“He did not like to talk about any of it,” Dawn said. “I think because it rattled him, broke him down. He didn’t want us to see that in him. He knew we would see something was wrong.

“We already knew something was wrong. You could see it in his eyes – the spark was gone.”

‘I love him unconditionally’

Nick Horner’s family believes his mind was in some far-away battlefield when Williams and Garlick died and Petty was wounded in Altoona.

However, they also know that their son and brother must face the courts for the crimes for which he stands charged.

They do not argue for his freedom.

They hope only for understanding and awareness of his condition – of PTSD.

They pray for the dead and wounded, and that all of the potential Nick Horners out there get the help they need.

“Forgive Nick? I wish they could, but that would be too much to ask,” Karen Horner said. “We are so sorry for them; we all are so sorry and so sad for them.”

After hours of holding back the tears while discussing her son’s circumstances, his mother broke down.

“He is my son and I love him unconditionally,” she said. “I only hope that they can see that my son is not an animal, but a boy who was changed by what he saw and did and the stress he faced while serving his country.”