MULLINS, S.C. (WBTW) — News13 has obtained the 911 calls from an incident that led to the firing of a Mullins police officer following a Sept. 28 shooting on Walker Court.

In the 911 calls, now-former Cpl. John Pettiford is heard telling Marion County dispatch that he heard gunshots in the neighborhood. Pettiford is also heard comforting the person who was shot.

“Hang in there, you’re breathing. Just breathe.” Pettiford said.

The 911 dispatcher asks Pettiford who shot the victim.

“Does the victim say who shot him?”

Pettiford responds by saying, “He is saying something, but his people,” (inaudible) “I’m here, I’m here. I was here.”

The 911 dispatcher continues to ask Pettiford if he can understand what the victim is saying about who shot him.

“One of them left in a green pickup truck,” Pettiford said in response.

The 911 dispatcher asks again who shot the victim and Pettiford is heard asking, “Who shot you?”

A second 911 call was made by the victim’s mother and sister who were on the way to the scene. They were asking dispatch for an ambulance and for police to come to Walker Court. They were on the phone with the victim.

The two told dispatchers that the victim said he was shot in the head.

“The dude that shot him is a police [officer] from Mullins, the woman said to dispatch.

At one point in the phone call, the victim stops responding to the women. He appears to regain consciousness and when asked about the name of the person who shot him, he said “Ronnell”.

The victim was taken to the hospital and the condition of the person is unknown.

Mullins Police Capt. Phil Mostowski said Pettiford was fired after the department got information from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division about his involvement in an “incident” that was initially investigated by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

The Criminal Justice Academy documents show that Pettiford was fired from the Dillon Police Department in September 2018 for violating 2018 agency policy. However, the report does not provide any details about what happened. Pettiford was hired by the Mullins Police Department in April 2019.

Pettiford is currently at the Marion County Detention Center after being denied bond, according to online jail records.

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Taylor Ford is a digital journalist for News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2023. Taylor is a Florence native and covers the Pee Dee out of News13’s Florence Bureau. Read more of Taylor’s work here.