Heavy metal guitarist Brian Montana killed in shootout with California police

David Matthews, New York Daily News on May 1, 2025

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A man killed in a shootout with police in California earlier this week was identified as Brian Montana, the guitarist from the pioneering death-metal band Possessed.

The incident began Monday around 6 p.m. when Montana, 60, reportedly started shooting into a neighbor’s home, where people were inside at the time. Montana was shot by South San Francisco Police Department officers following a short standoff during which he armed himself with a handgun, rifle and shotgun and started firing from a driveway.

Officers and Montana used vehicles for cover while exchanging shots.

Montana was pronounced dead at the scene. One neighbor suffered a graze wound and was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

A resident told KRON 4 the incident was sparked by an argument over tree trimmings falling into his yard.

“It didn’t need to go that way,” Daniel Finnegan said.

The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office is investigating, police said.

Montana was a founding member of Possessed — a Bay Area death metal band “often referred to as the godfathers of the genre,” according to AllMusic.

He left the band in 1985 after feuding with guitarist Mike Torrao. The band disbanded in 1987 and reunited several times, although without Montana. Singer Jeff Becerra was paralyzed in a separate shooting in 1989.

The band confirmed Montana’s death in an Instagram story.