Brian Montana, ‘Pioneer’ Death metal guitarist pioneer killed during San Francisco stand-off shooting with police after argument with neighbor over tree clippings escalating to gun violence.
A death metal pioneer guitarist has been identified as the individual killed by police during a standoff in San Francisco earlier this week after an argument with a neighbor escalating to violence.
Brian Montana, 60, guitarist for the band ‘Possessed’, died in a shootout with cops after brandishing a gun during an argument with a neighbor over ‘tree clippings’ the South San Francisco Police Department said in a release according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The un-identified 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 after responding to reports of a man threatening his neighbor with a gun, CBS Bay Area reported.
Argument with neighbor over tree clippings escalates to gun violence
‘[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 pulling a gun on his neighbor, cops said.
No police officers were hurt during the ‘exchange of gunfire’, KTVU reported earlier this week.
Montana was an early guitarist for Possessed, a pioneer of the 80s death metal whose peers included Metallica, Death Angel and Testament according to KRON4.
Death metal pioneer
Although Montana left the band in 1985 — to be replaced by future Primus guitarist Larry LaLonde — the band confirmed his death in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
‘Rest In Peace Brian Montana,’ read the Instagram post.
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.
While Possessed’s initial run was relatively short — they formed in 1983 and disbanded in 1987 — they are often referred to as the godfathers of death metal, according to AllMusic.
