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Death penalty sought
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County prosecutors said Wednesday that they will seek the death penalty for an ex-soldier from the Johnstown area who allegedly shot and killed two people during a robbery April 6 in Altoona.
Nicholas Horner, 28, is being held without bail in Blair County Prison on first-degree murder charges in the slayings of Scott Garlick, 19, a worker at the Subway shop where the shootings began, and Raymond Williams, 64, a retired insurance agent from Northern Cambria Borough who more recently had been living in Altoona.
Horner also is charged with aggravated assault and related offenses for wounding Michelle Petty, another employee at the Subway shop.
Horner’s family has said that the defendant – who did two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Kuwait between 2002 and 2007 while in the Army – suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Horner reportedly told authorities afterward that he could not recall what had happened.
He was undergoing treatment for the disorder at the Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona.
A formal notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Horner was filed at the Blair County Courthouse by Wade Kagarise and Jackie Bernard, chief deputy district attorneys.
The notice lists aggravating factors that a jury could find in voting for a death sentence in the murders.
The factors were listed as:
n A murder occurring at the time of another murder.
n The murder occurred in the perpetration of a felony crime, a reference to the robbery.
In addition, in the Garlick killing, the additional factor listed is: The defendant created a grave risk for death to another person.
Neither Kagarise nor Bernard could be reached for comment.
Horner is scheduled for formal court arraignment at the courthouse July 31.
Garlick, a senior at Hollidaysburg Area High School, was fatally wounded when he responded to knocking at the rear door of the 58th Street Subway in Altoona, police allege. Petty testified at Horner’s preliminary hearing that she was shot after Horner entered the business.
Horner allegedly ordered another employee to put money in a bag before running into a wooded area. He ended up on Maryland Avenue, where police say he shot and killed Williams, who was checking his mail outside his apartment complex. The apartment complex is just outside Altoona in Logan Township.
The suspect, who had a Subway bag of money stuffed in his pocket, was apprehended as he was running through the parking lot at the apartment complex.
Horner has no criminal record, although he was arrested March 9 – about a month before the murders – by Cresson Township police on a charge of drunken driving. In recent months before the shootings, he had moved to Altoona.
Attorney David Shrager of Pittsburgh, who represents Horner, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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