Brian Montana, a former guitarist for the Bay Area death metal band Possessed, was killed in a shootout with police in South San Francisco.
The incident occurred April 28 after Montana, 60, confronted a neighbor about tree branches and leaves falling into his yard, according to a press release from the South San Francisco Police Department, first reported in the San Mateo Daily Journal.
“Officers began arriving on scene at 5:55 pm and immediately requested additional units because the suspect with the firearm was now actively shooting into an occupied residence,” the release stated. “The suspect then re-positioned himself into a driveway of that neighbouring residence and concealed his location behind parked vehicles while still armed.
“Over the next 25 minutes,” the release continued, “the suspect armed himself with three different types of firearms (handgun, shotgun, and rifle) and fired at officers from different locations within the driveway while seeking cover and concealment using both vehicles in the driveway and landscaping.”
Two officers on the scene returned fire and killed Montana. One resident in the home Montana shot at suffered a non-life-threatening injury in the shooting, and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The officers were not injured.
San Mateo County Dist. Atty. Steve Wagstaffe told the Daily Journal that “On the shooter’s side, there was some alcohol involved. His death is a tragedy, but it’s fortunate that nobody else wasn’t hit or injured more seriously.”
Montana briefly played in the pioneering death metal band from 1983 to 1984. Possessed’s official Instagram posted a photo of Montana with a brief remembrance.
“I just feel like people should know that Brian Montana was a very nice guy. He was jovial and a gentleman,” the band wrote. “The Brian I know is from when we were still just kids back in the beginning of Possessed. He was nothing like what I’m seeing being written about him. … He was obviously going through some struggles and I think this is the time to be respectful towards the Montana family and friends as this is a tragic time for them. I’m sure there’s a lot more to this story, but that would be up to Brian‘s family to tell or not to tell. I know that I still feel this is a great loss and I’m deeply saddened.”
This isn’t the band’s first tragic brush with gun violence. Possessed’s vocalist, Jeff Becerra, was paralyzed from the chest down after being shot in an armed robbery in 1989. He has used a wheelchair ever since, but in 2021, he walked for the first time in decades with aid from robotic legs.
