Aug 29, 2008 11:30 pm US/Eastern
Accused Killer Of Customs Agent Bonds Out
James Wonder Admitted To Shooting Donald Pettit
Wonder Had No Comment For CBS4 Cameras After Bonding Out
Click here for complete coverage of the shooting of agent Pettit
POMPANO BEACH (CBS4) ―
James Wonder has posted $10,000 bond and was set free from a Broward jail on Friday after having been accused of killing a federal agent in a fit of road rage earlier this month in Pembroke Pines.
On Thursday, a Broward grand jury indicted Wonder, 65, on manslaughter charges in the shooting death of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Donald Pettit. Pettit was gunned down August 5 in a Pembroke Pines post office parking lot.
If Wonder had been indicted on first or second degree murder charges, he could have faced life in prison or possibly the death penalty if convicted. Under the charge of manslaughter, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
A police report on Pettit's death cites road rage as the cause of the murder; it also paints a picture of Pettit acting aggressively against Wonder who admits to pulling the trigger.
Pembroke Pines police say Wonder and Pettit were involved in some verbal exchange on Dykes Road, where Wonder may have been driving erratically; the two men exchanged places on the road, one cutting off the other car.
Police say both men traded insulting middle finger gestures, which ended when Wonder pulled into the post office. Pettit passed the post office then turned back into the post office parking lot where Wonder had parked.
Both men got out of their car, according to the police department's probable cause report, and continued their argument. The report said Wonder admitted to reaching into his waistband, pulling a handgun and shooting Pettit once in the head.
Deputy Chief Mike Segarra said Pettit was shot in the back of the head.
Segarra was unable to say if Pettit had business in the post office and pulled in to do that business, or if he was there only because of the confrontation with Wonder.
Wonder was taken into custody by investigators at the Universal Kidney Center in Davie.
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