Willie E. “Baybro” Petty

Shooting fatal to ex-Mansfielder

MANSFIELD – Former Mansfielder Willie E. “Baybro” Petty, 28, of Sacramento, Calif. Died Wednesday (10/8/1981) night from a gunshot wound.

A Sacramento Police Department spokesman said the Petty shooting is being investigated as a murder.  No details were available at press time.

Mr. Petty was born June 14, 1953, in Fort Sill, Okla., and had lived in Sacramento for the last 3 ½ years.  He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and was active in the Army Reserves.

He is survived by his wife Lois, of Mansfield; a daughter, April Grier; his mother, Mattie Smith; a sister, Norma Jean Hammner, and two brothers, Terry Petty and Joe Smith, all of Mansfield.  He is also survived by two stepbrothers, James Smith of Sacramento and Eddie Smith of California.

Funeral arrangements, by the Gary Williams Funeral Services, are incomplete.

Published in the News Journal Oct. 9, 1981.

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Sacramento man held in shooting death of former Mansfield man

MANSFIELD – The man who allegedly shot former Mansfielder Willie E. Petty to death in Sacramento, Calif. on Wednesday is being held in jail pending murder charges by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

William Miller, assistant to the Sacramento County sheriff, termed Petty’s killing “racially motivated”.  He said the suspect is Dennis Allen, 36, of Sacramento, and said Allen is on parole for a robbery conviction.

Miller said Petty, a Vietnam veteran, was visiting an apartment complex in Sacramento where he had once lived, and met a woman whom he had known there.  As they talked, Miller said Allen, who was reportedly following the woman, shot Petty three times with a .22 caliber pistol, striking the veteran in the arm, chest and back.  When Petty went down, his assailant stepped up and fired two more bullets in Petty’s head.

Later Miller said Allen was cornered in an apartment complex and arrested.
Services for Petty will be held at the Gary Williams Funeral home and are incomplete.

Published in the News Journal on Oct. 10, 1981.

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