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S’Doni Pettis, a black career criminal “on probation after serving time for aggravated battery” (a downgraded charge as Pettis was facing attempted murder) reportedly led police on a high-speed pursuit in a stolen vehicle in February, a chase which ended almost as soon as it began: In less than 30 seconds, Pettis had “slammed” into an SUV with a father and his two young children on their way home from a pediatric check-up. The car “exploded into a fireball,” allegedly killing little 2-month-old Iris instantly, and burning the three-year-old Ares so badly, he died from his injuries shortly after.

This was all too much for Mark Vawter, great-grandfather to little Ares and Iris, so on Tuesday afternoon, he waited outside an Indiana courthouse for Pettis to appear for his scheduled court date, apparently intending to gun him down:

Pettis was supposed to have a court appearance in the vehicular manslaughter case Tuesday, but unbeknownst to Vawter, it had been rescheduled.

An armed Vawter was spotted leaning against a courthouse wall when the deputies started to transport the inmates.

He approached and confronted the group, firing off at least one shot shortly after, according to officials and reports.

His shot did not hit anyone, but two Hendricks County sheriff’s deputies, Zachary Emmitt and Nathan Phillips, returned fire and did not miss.

Vawter was pronounced dead at the scene, according to officials. 

Below, Vawter and Pettis:

‘An armed man on a vigilante mission to avenge the killing of his great-grandchildren was gunned down in a chaotic shootout with deputies escorting inmates in front of an Indiana courthouse Tuesday, according to family and officials.
The 65-year-old shooter, Mark Vawter, showed… pic.twitter.com/KQBd5kuPUb

— The Daily Sneed™ (@Tr00peRR) May 8, 2025

Why might Vawter have taken matters into his own hands? Well, here’s an idea, and credit to Andrea Widburg for this, because I have only read one Stephen Pinker book, and this wasn’t it:

In Stephen Pinker’s great ‘The Better Angels of Our Nature,’ he explains that part of Europe’s civilizing process was that it created trustworthy systems by which the state punished wrongdoers, removing the responsibility from individual hands. That tamped down on violence within communities. It stopped Hatfield and McCoy style feuds and prevented people from feeling that they had to take the law into their own hands.

Naturally, the reversal of such a trend will have the opposite effect—the more the government veers toward punishing do-gooders and protecting evil-doers, in this case in pursuit of “restorative” justice, the more the people turn to vigilantism to restore law and order based on objective morality and standards.

I mean, why would Vawter have any faith in the American justice system as it is today?

George Floyd, a violent career criminal who died because of his own drug addiction was venerated as a martyr, simply because he was black.

Black Karmelo Anthony just raised more than half a million dollars from mostly black donors, proud of him for stabbing a white kid without just cause.

And, just yesterday I wrote about the left’s newest black criminal darling, an accused cop killer who mowed down an innocent man because he allegedly felt entitled to do so since his son has recently been killed at the hands of police when the teenager brandished a firearm after fleeing a stolen vehicle.

When “restorative” or “reparative” justice replaces blind justice, it’s a recipe for chaos.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.