Ex-Mayor's Son Killed in Burglary
The 23-year-old son of former Mayor Robert Brandon was shot and killed by Burbank police early this morning as he apparently attempted to burglarize a local bar. The dead man, Frank Brandon, was shot inside the Brew Mistress Bar at 3813 W. Magnolia.
Brandon was ordered to halt by police who were outside the building, but instead turned away from where he was standing at the front window. Police Investigator Robert Jacobs, who was stationed outside in the front of the bar, then fired his shotgun at Brandon, according to Assistant Chief of Police Robert Loranger.
Brandon, who Loranger said was killed instantly, was struck in the left chest by three shotgun pellets. Another pellet struck his left hand. He was not armed. The shooting occurred at 3 a.m. after police were called to investigate noises in the area of the bar.
A resident near the bar had called police to report noises in the area. Meanwhile, an alarm inside the bar sounded. When police arrived, two officers covered the front of the bar, while two more went to the rear.
At the back of the bar, police found a door to a rest room had been kicked open. Wooden planks that had been used to seal off the the door, which was not in use, were scattered on the ground. Police then ordered the man inside to come out with his hands up.
Officers said the man came to the rest room, said something to police, and then turned and ran to the front of the bar, where he apparently tried to break out through the front window. Investigator Jacobs, a 12-year veteran of the Burbank Police Force, reportedly saw Brandon at the front window, ordered him to surrender and then fired when Brandon turned away from the glass.
Police said they were not sure whether Brandon was currently living at the family's home at 515 Via Providencia. Former Mayer Brandon was active in community service for 18 years. He served as a city councilman for eight years before being defeated in his bid for a third term in 1967. He and his wife, Ione, also have a daughter. Shortly after the shooting Burbank Police Chief Rex Andrews and City Manager Joseph Baker were called to the scene.
------------------------------------------------------
May Have Sought Jacket
Burbank Daily Review, June 1969
Statements by the bar employees indicate that Frank Brandon, who was killed by police early Thursday morning, may have broken into the bar to retrieve his jacket and car keys. The 23-year-old son of Dr. Robert Brandon, former mayor of Burbank, was killed by a blast from a police shotgun in the Brew Mistress Bar, 3813 W. Magnolia, about an hour after the closing time.
Waitress Dale Mead'Ors said when she and another waitress locked up at 2 a.m., Brandon told them he did not want to take his jacket with him. The jacket was then placed in a back room of the bar, where Miss Mead'Ors said he could retrieve it at a later date, since he was a regular customer at the establishment. Outside Brandon said something about his car keys, Miss Mead'Ors recalled, but said she could not understand him as he continued to walk down the sidewalk.
"I thought about it after I got home," said Miss Mead'Ors, "but I didn't even know if he actually had a car. I had only seen him walking." After he was shot it was learned he had retrieved his jacket but not taken any money. "There was at least $200 that could have been taken from the bar that wasn't touched," according to Tom Graybar, also an employee of the bar.
Police surrounded the bar after a nearby resident reported noises in the area and a burglary alarm inside the establishment had sounded. After investigating officers found a rear door kicked in, they ordered Brandon to come out with his hands up. He said something to police and ran to the front of the bar where he was shot as he turned away from a picture window by officer Robert Jacobs.
Dr. Brandon, although saying it was "regrettable they had to fire," said police "did what they felt they had to do." "There must have been a better way to handle the situation, however," he added. "They heard a noise, Firing a shotgun should not be the way to get rid of a noise." An inquest on the death will be held in the county coroner's office at 10 a.m. June 23.
---------------------------------------------------------
OBIT
Frank Brandon
Funeral services will be held Monday for Franklin Brandon of 515 Via Providencia who died Thursday at the age of 23. A native of Memphis, Tennessee , he had lived in Burbank for 18 years. He was a painter.
He is survived by his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Robert F. Brandon of Burbank; one sister, Debra, of Burbank; and a grandfather, Charles Barher of Burlington, Iowa. Visitation will be held today and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. at the Fillbach-Bailey Funeral Chapel, 152 E. Palm.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the First Methodist Church, 700 N. Glenoaks. Burial will follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills.
No comments:
Post a Comment