Horner ordered to trial

By KATHY MELLOTT
The Tribune-Democrat

HOLLIDAYSBURG June 27, 2009 12:19 am

— The woman who survived an April 6 double murder described in court Friday how she heard noise in the back room of a sandwich shop, walked around a counter and was shot in the hip.
Michelle Petty was injured immediately after co-worker Scott Garlick, a high school senior, was shot dead after he responded to knocking at the rear door of the 58th Street Subway.
“I got shot right away. I saw, like fireworks coming at me and that’s all I remember,” Petty testified at the preliminary hearing for Nicholas Adam Horner, the Johns-town native charged with double homicide and related charges in what appeared to begin as a robbery.
All charges against Horner, 29, were bound over to court. He was returned to the Blair County Prison, where he has been held without bail since the shooting.
He was wearing body armor above his waist and was guarded by two state constables and a number of sheriff’s deputies.
Horner also allegedly shot and killed Raymond Williams, 64, who had recently moved to the Altoona area with his wife, Christine.
Williams for many years operated an insurance business in Vinco and lived in Northern Cambria.
The hearing room at the Blair County Courthouse was crowded with about 20 people sitting in an area designated for Horner and as many as 35 people in the central area reserved for families of the victims.
“I fell to the ground and felt a gun to my head and he said, “ ‘don’t move or else,’ ” Petty told District Judge Steven Jackson of Canan Station.
When Petty attempted to look for Garlick, Horner said, “Girl, I thought I told you.” When he said that, Petty testified, she stayed still on the floor and closed her eyes.
Momentarily she heard the same voice say to Garlick: “ ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t want to have to do this to you ...’ ”
Petty, who continues to undergo physical therapy and counseling, was one of six witnesses to testify at the three-hour hearing.
Jordon Cogley, 16, a customer who came into the Subway just prior to the shooting, identified Horner as the man who approached an older female employee. Responding to orders from Horner, she placed what was said to be $130 in a Subway bag and handed it to the defendant.
“The first thing I noticed was he had a gun. It was a silver and black gun. It was a handgun and he asked her for money,” Cogley said. “She put the money in the bag and handed it to him and said, ‘please don’t shoot me, please don’t shoot me.’ ”
Cogley testified he watched as Horner left the Subway, crossed 58th Street and entered a wooded area beside a hot dog shop.
During cross-examination by defense attorney David Shager of Pittsburgh, Cogley testified that Horner said, “ ‘ha ha, oh yeah,’ ” as he approached the clerk.
Cogley rejected questions by Shager that Horner was “out of it” at the time.
“He sounded a little angry to me,” the teenager said.
Horner, who served two tours in Iraq and one in Kuwait, has maintained since his arrest that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
He underwent a psychiatric evaluation June 1.
While the results have not been made public, a comment by Shager suggested the evaluation may not have supported Horner’s PTSD claim.
“They held the hearing, didn’t they?” he said of Friday’s proceedings.
Also testifying was Chris Stadler, 29, a mechanic for Sel-Lo Oil Co. on California Avenue. He recalled being in the garage when he heard popping sounds and went outside.
“I noticed a man walking behind cars trying to enter vehicles. He was putting something in the doors’ locks to get them open,” Stadler said.
He identified the man as Horner. As Stadler watched the suspect gain access to a blue Cavalier, he also spotted the leg of a man lying on the ground and realized that the popping sounds had been gunshots.
Stadler went to his Jeep to call 911 on a two-way radio when Horner spotted him.
“ ‘You’re (expletive) next,’ ” Stadler said, relating Horner’s words. “I dropped everything I had and I took off and ran behind a (tanker) trailer,” he said.
Altoona police Officer David Tracy said he pursued Horner around the apartment complex where Williams lived and into a more rural area.
He and another officer each fired two shots and were unable to stop the suspect.
Eventually, four officers, one using a Taser, subdued the defendant.
As he was being arrested, Horner told police, “If it were your wife and kids you’d do the same thing, too.” Tracy said he thought Horner was making reference to the robbery.
Horner then told police, “You have the wrong guy. My friend just shot someone.”
State Trooper Craig Grassmeyer testified the gun Horner had was a .45-caliber Ruger registered to Daniel E. Horner of Johnstown, the defendant’s father.

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