Aug 7, 2008 3:46 pm US/Eastern
James Patrick Wonder Moved To Broward County Jail
Wonder Is Charged In Connection To Federal Agent Pettit's Murder
Click here for complete coverage of the shooting of agent Pettit
DAVIE (CBS4) ―
As James Patrick Wonder of Miramar was moved to the Broward County Jail on Thursday in connection with the killing of federal agent Donald Pettit, police announced it will have more information at a 4p.m. news conference.
The Pembroke Pines Police Department will release more information on their investigation into and subsequent arrest of the 65-year-old Wonder.
Wonder was taken into custody by investigators earlier Wednesday at the Universal Kidney Center in Davie, showing up en masse at a Davie strip mall located at Hiatus Road and SR-84 around 2:30 p.m.
Video from Chopper 4 showed the officers gathering outside of several businesses in the mall. They then moved in on the dialysis center where they took the "person of interest" into custody.
Hours later, investigators confirmed that person was Wonder.
"We did it!"
Those were the first words a Pembroke Pines Deputy Chief proclaimed in announcing the arrest of james Patrick Wonder of Miramar for the murder of federal agent Donald Pettit.
"We told you we would get you," Pembroke Pines Deputy Chief Mike Segarra said as officers and supporters burst into sustained applause.
Segarra said all of the investigators wanted to be present when Wonder's arrest was announced, and that wonder had talked at length earlier in the evening with investigators.
"Thank you, thank you everyone," said Pettit's widow, Ileana, who stood with police investigators struggling to hold back tears. "The public, the media, all these people behind me, these law enforcement people, volunteers. You did it, you did it. You found this man."
According to Segarra, Wonder and Agent Pettit had an argument in the parking lot of a Pembroke Pines post office, and Wonder fired a single shot, striking the agent and killing him.
His 15 year old daughter was in the car and saw the whole thing, and Wednesday night Segarra said she was "instrumental" in developing the information leading to Wonder's arrest.
Investigators said they were led to Wonder and the dialysis clinic by a tip from the public. Segarra said they have located the car Wonder was driving at the time of the shooting, and confirmed that it was a Dodge. Police had been looking for a Dodge 300 as they searched for Pettit's killer.
Another officer said when Wonder was detained Wednesday he was driving a rental car.
Police offered scant details about Wonder or the reason he allegedly shot Pettit, saying more information could come out Thursday.
According to neighbors, one woman told
CBS4 Reporter Marybel Rodriguez that they found Wonder and his wife, "very nice, normal people."
Earlier Wednesday, dozens of officers swarmed the Malibu Run subdivision, located at NW 2nd Street and 208th Avenue in Pembroke Pines around noon Wednesday when a postal worker spotted a person fitting the suspect's description.
Officers shutdown any access to the development and police helicopters were spotted flying over the area. Officers were seen going door-to-door in the search but apparently, the search turned up empty.
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