Jigwemko Layton in court, Aug. 18, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Ji-Gwe-Mko Layton pleaded not guilty Friday to killing a man while traveling on Highway 172 because he was afraid the driver was going to rob his home while Layton was at work.
Layton, 18, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the Aug. 16 shooting. The victim, a 60-year-old Wood County man, has not been identified.
No trial date was set. Layton returns to court April 3 for a status conference.
According to the criminal complaint, police responded to the ramp from State 172 westbound to Interstate 41 southbound for a crash at 12:30 p.m. A pickup truck had gone into a ditch and a male had fled the crash scene with a rifle. An officer spotted Layton and ordered him to the ground.
“Sergeant Pizzala reports that he asked Layton what happened. Layton stated, ‘okay so [Victim 1] was acting like he was going to rob my safe while I was at work.’ Sergeant Pizzala asked Layton, ‘did you kill somebody?’ Layton stated “[Victim 1],” the complaint states.
The criminal complaint said Layton admitted he shot the man in the head. Authorities have not identified the victim, nor his relationship to Layton.
The truck the pair was in at the time of the crash veered off the highway, coming to rest in a ditch.
“I-41 is busy. It was middle of the afternoon. It’s a busy part of the highway and the fact that that could happen, they left the road the way they did and no other cars were involved, is really a miracle,” said a witness.
She was on 172 westbound, taking the ramp to get onto I-41 southbound, when Layton ran in front of her car.
She said, “It took my brain a minute to realize that somebody just ran out in front of me. And I looked at him, like did that just happen? And then I realized he was holding a long — and I don’t know my guns — but it appeared to look like an assault rifle of some sort. And he continued to run across 172.”
That witness called 911 to report the unusual scene as she continued up the on-ramp.
“I asked if she needed me to stop or do anything, and she said, ‘No just keep going, get out of there, we’re not sure what he’s capable of doing,'” said the woman, recalling her conversation with the 911 dispatcher.
Layton, who had dropped the assault rifle he had been carrying on the side of the road, obeyed a responding deputy’s orders to get on the ground, where he was handcuffed and taken into custody.
With blood visible on Layton’s clothes, the deputy started asking him questions. Layton admitting to killing the man in the vehicle, leading him to direct responding officers and deputies to the crashed red pickup.
It was in the truck deputies found the victim, along with the handgun Layton said he used to shoot the man. An autopsy listed the man’s cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds.
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