September 14, 2010

Man is accused of going on naked shooting spree
Patrick Buchnowski
[email protected] [email protected] Tue Sep 14, 2010, 11:19 PM EDT



— Seventh Ward Ambulance officials say William Glenn Layton Jr. is a friendly neighbor who will “talk your ear off.”

But another side to the 31-year-old Cedar Street man emerged early Tuesday, when Layton – naked and toting a shotgun – allegedly broke into the ambulance building around 3 a.m. with four employees inside.

Johnstown police said Layton, after firing his weapon at several structures in the area, used his weapon to smash glass on the door and gained entry to the building near the radio room.

“When one of the girls came out, he was sitting there talking to the 911 center on the phone,” Seventh Ward Manager Mike Brawley said.

The employee quickly left the room and called authorities, he said.

When police arrived, they found Layton in the radio room. The naked man allegedly fought with police as he was taken into custody, then transported to Memorial Medical Center.

Seventh Ward employees were found huddling in a back room and were hustled out the front door, police said.

No one was injured.

A Cambria County 911 official said she could not disclose the nature of Layton’s conversation with the dispatcher.

“It’s an ongoing investigation,” 911 Director Carol Peretin said.

Brawley said he is puzzled by his neighbor’s erratic behavior.

“I don’t know what the motive was,” Brawley said. “It’s bizarre.”

Brawley added that Layton “was a neighborly guy we would talk to periodically. If he knocked on the door you would let him in.”

Police said they initially responded to a call reporting a naked white man walking down Cedar and Wood streets while firing a shotgun.

Police said they found one spent 12-gauge shell on the front porch of Burns Photography By Roger Kerekes at 439 Wood St.

The round was lodged in the front of the building.

Kerekes said he was working late, preparing to photograph school students the next day.

He left the shop 45 minutes before the gunman arrived.

“He put a shotgun up to the door and shot into the building,” Kerekes said.

The round shattered the door’s window before piercing the wall and one of the business’ props, Kerekes said.

Kerekes said he doesn’t believe Layton was targeting his business, adding that police told him the suspect was going through a divorce.

“It was a random act,” he said. “He was distraught and he acted irrationally.”

Four spent 12-gauge shells were found on the front porch of a home in the 300 block of Cedar Street, where the windows were shot out, police said.

Layton was charged before on-call District Judge Leonard Grecek of Roxbury with aggravated assault, criminal trespass, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, and pointing and discharging a firearm.

He had not been arraigned as of Tuesday night.
http://tribune-democrat.com/local/x176916353/Man-is-accused-of-going-on-naked-shooting-spree