John Robert Pettit
submitted by Eddie Kunkel
~~~~~~~~~~
Pampa Mailman Dies From Accidental Shot
Pampa March 18 (Special)
A 23-year-old Pampa man, John Robert Pettit of 534 N
Davis, was fatally shot at 2:10 p.m. Sunday in the
basement of his mother's home, 8 miles north of
Alanreed.
Justice of the peace C. H. Day of McLean, acting as
coronary, said the shooting was accidental and there was
no indication of foul play.
Pettit was taken to Highland General Hospital in Pampa
after the shooting and died there at 5:25 p.m.
Gray County Deputy Sheriff D. L. Day said Pettit's
mother, Mrs. Buddy Day, was in an upstairs room and
heard the shot. She rushed to the basement and found her
wounded son.
.
Hospital attendants at Highland General Hospital said
the bullet entered Pettit's forehead just below the
hairline.
Pettit, a Pampa mailman, had gone to his mother's house
located on the Leslie Dorsy Ranch to spend the weekend.
Mrs. Day told officers that her son had been hunting
eariler and had returned home. About 2 p.m., Pettit told
her he was going to get his car registration papers from
the basement in order to register his car during the
coming week.
Deputy Day said he and his partner, Deputy Shirley
Nichols, and Constable J.D. Fish invistigated the
shooting.
A .33 caliber pistol was found in the basement. Officers
said it was the weapon which fired the fatal shot.
Pettit's gun cleaning equipment was laying on the bed.
Officers said it appeared Pettit reached into a trunk
near the bed to pick up the pistol and clean it.
Grasping the the gun by the barrel, he was lifting it
out of the trunk when the trigger caught on the lid and
discharged the weapon.
Constable J.D. Fish said, "I looked at the pistol and it
only had one fired shell in the cylinder. Pettit was
always careful and I think he thought the gun was
empty."
Mrs. Day told officers that her son was a gun collector
and always kept five or six guns in the trunk near his
bed.
Funeral services are pending at the the Lamb Funeral
Home in McLean.
Copied from:
Amarillo Daily News
March 1962
This page was last updated July 23, 2017.