Warrant issued for Pettis in murder case

Staff Reports

Fresno police issued an arrest warrant for former Fresno State basketball player Terry Pettis, saying he is the only suspect in the near-campus murder of a Fresno City College student.

Rene Shannon Abbot was sitting in a car with her boyfriend Kent Wolf in a parking lot on 9th street on April 27 when Pettis allegedly approached and shot the two in an attempted robbery, police said.

The 18-year-old Abbott died. Wolf escaped with injuries.

According to published reports, Fresno Police chief Jerry Dyer said the episode was not a random act of violence, but that it was unclear whether Pettis knew the two victims.

The university made a statement Tuesday distancing itself from Pettis, who was dismissed permanently from the team Feb. 27 and withdrew from school April 15 according to the release.

“ This is very disturbing news,” basketball coach Ray Lopes said in a separate press release. “I never thought as a basketball coach that I would have to face an issue such as this. First, I want to say that my deepest sympathy and prayers go to the family of this young, promising lady. Second, as the fans and citizens of Fresno are aware, Terry Pettis has been suspended and permanently dismissed by myself and the athletics department from the Bulldog basketball program since Feb. 6, 2004.”

Pettis is believed to be in Minnesota, where a judge allowed him to be relocated as long as he was accepted in a batterer’s intervention program there.

Pettis was arrested in a Fresno County courtroom in April for violating the terms of his probation by not finishing a similar program in Fresno.

The probation stemmed from an incident in September when he hit his girlfriend in the back and vandalized her car.

Pettis plead no-contest to the two misdemeanor charges Oct. 8.

He returned to the team to average a team-high 12.8 points per game, until being benched in a game at Louisiana Tech Feb. 5.

The following day, Lopes announced Pettis was suspended for the remainder of the season.