Records: Suicidal man at OIA court-martialed in 2011 stabbing
The 26-year-old man Orlando police say pointed a simulated gun at himself and officers at Orlando International Airport on Tuesday night was courtmartialed in 2011 after he stabbed a fellow Marine in the face, records show.
Michael Wayne Pettigrew’s nearly three-hour standoff with police wreaked havoc at the airport, bringing throngs of law-enforcement officers, shutting down part of Terminal A, and causing confusion and chaos inside.
As airport operations returned to normal on Wednesday, police released more information about the incident and Pettigrew’s past, which included the stabbing that led to a bad-conduct discharge from the
Marines and prior “mental crisis” incidents with OPD officers.
“He led a troubled life,” said Orlando Police Chief John Mina.
Tuesday’s incident started just before 7:30 p.m., when a Mears Transportation employee said Pettigrew came up to her and said he had a gun.
The employee asked what he needed, and she said Pettigrew opened his black jacket twice, showing what appeared to be a gun.
She tried to call 911, but her phone didn’t work, so Pettigrew gave her his phone and “told her to call 911, to bring the police, and that he wanted to speak to the president,” the affidavit said.
The employee called 911 and told dispatchers what Pettigrew was wearing.
Dispatchers also received a call from one of Pettigrew’s friends in Pennsylvania. He said Pettigrew texted him and told him he was going to the airport with a gun.
“He told me he wasn’t planning on shooting anybody but was planning on having a cop kill him,” the caller said.
Orlando Police Officer Jeff Angel and other officers responded. He said he saw Pettigrew assume the “shooting stance” and point his weapon at Officer Charles Wadley, according to the report.
Wadley said in the report that he saw Pettigrew pointing what he thought was a gun at him and raised his AR-15.
Wadley saw a “large crowd of passengers running everywhere,” so he did not fire, according to the report.
Mina said Wednesday that Wadley made the right decision not to fire at Pettigrew.
“We train for that every time we do firearms training to make sure there is nothing in the background,” Mina said. “We just don’t want to fire at suspects and possibly injure innocent civilians who happen to be behind him or near him.”
Angel yelled at Pettigrew to drop the weapon, but he did not, the report said.
Pettigrew was told again to drop the gun, and he yelled at Angel to “kill me” while pointing the gun at himself, the report said.
According to Mina, officers were able to talk Pettigrew into sitting down and putting the gun at his side but still within reach.
The Crisis Intervention Team was called in to talk with Pettigrew.
Lt. Jim Young, who is on the team, said officers were trying to ensure Pettigrew would get the help he needed.
“He was talking about some of the problems he was having in his life,” Young said.
Pettigrew surrendered and was taken into custody around 10 p.m. He was taken to a hospital under the Baker Act, which allows for an involuntary commitment to a mental hospital.
He was booked into the Orange County Jail on a charge of aggravated assault on a firefighter, records show.
Mina said police aren’t sure why Pettigrew went to the airport, but he was not a ticketed passenger on an arriving or departing flight.
According to the U.S. Marine Corps, he enlisted in Tampa in August 2009. He received a National Defense Service Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal but saw no combat, the Marines said.
Pettigrew’s last assignment was at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., which is nearly three hours east of Los Angeles.
It was there on July 24, 2011, that Pettigrew stabbed a corporal in the face and left arm, according to the courtmartial order released by Orlando police.
Pettigrew was convicted of assault and received the bad-conduct discharge, a reduction in pay and was jailed for seven months.
His troubles apparently continued in Orlando, where Mina said he was known to law enforcement because of mental-health issues. Mina declined to go into detail.
Pettigrew has no criminal history in Florida, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records.
A neighbor, who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation against her family, said Pettigrew lived with his mother, father and sister in an apartment about 5 miles from the airport.
She said she often heard Pettigrew yelling and has seen police respond to his apartment.
“Sometimes he could have a very happy look on his face — sometimes not so much,” the neighbor said.
She said that after police responded to the home around Christmastime, she decided to keep her distance.
“Since that day, I knew he could be dangerous,” she said.
“He told me he wasn’t planning on shooting anybody but was planning on having a cop kill him.” Caller to police dispatch identified as a friend of Michael Wayne Pettigrew