Police shot and killed a death metal pioneer in San Francisco this week after an argument with a neighbor over tree clippings turned violent.
Brian Montana, 60, guitarist for the band Possessed, died in a shootout with cops after he pulled a gun on a neighbor during an argument, the South San Francisco Police Department said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Death metal guitarist Brian Montana (left) died in a shootout with police. Facebook/Possessed
Montana reportedly hid behind cars during the shootout. CBS News
One neighbor sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the shootout, during which Montana took cover behind parked cars and landscaping and used three different guns to shoot at cops for almost half an hour, according to authorities, per CBS Bay Area.
“[Montana] fired multiple times at officers using a handgun, shotgun, and rifle … Officers used patrol cars as cover and returned fire. The suspect was struck and ultimately pronounced deceased at the scene,” SSFPD said.
The argument began over tree clippings from a neighbor’s yard, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. At 5:52 p.m. police received a 911 call about a man brandishing a gun at his neighbor, cops said.
Montana (not pictured) was a guitarist for the band Possessed. Facebook/Possessed
Montana was an early guitarist for Possessed, a pioneer of the 80s death metal whose peers included Metallica, Death Angel and Testament.
Montana is the second member of the band to be shot.
Its vocalist Jeff Becerra was shot twice in a 1989 robbery that left him paralyzed from the waist down, according to Livewire.