PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. - On Tuesday morning, Pettit, 52, and a man got into an argument with another man standing outside of his car in the parking lot of the Pembroke Pines post office. It may have been over a parking space. The gunman then pulled out a gun and shot Pettit in the head. Even more tragic is the fact that Pettit’s 12-year-old daughter was in the car at the time. The gunman then fled the scene. Pettit’s daughter heard the shot and got out of the car to find her father lying on the ground bleeding. She used a cell phone to call 911.
Pettit who was married with two children, was also a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent. He also served in the U.S. Army for 20 years, then spent 15 years as an investigator with the Food and Drug Administration in Maryland, Puerto Rico and Miami. He was unarmed at the time of this incident.