Bob Osborne shot and killed by Sheriff's Deputy at Braddock Whataburger

Sheriff: Deputy kills man with gun at Whataburger

Washburn: Victim's weapon held pellets but looked like semiautomatic

10:00 AM CDT on Saturday, August 11, 2007
By Jim Hodges / Braddock Times

A Braddock Sheriff's deputy fatally shot a man early Saturday who was wearing a bandanna over his face and threatening patrons of a fast-food restaurant with a pellet gun that looked like a semiautomatic pistol.

The man, identified as WNWA employee Bob Osborne, was taken to Ewing Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Sheriff's Department declined to name the officer involved in the shooting.

Sheriff Fenton Washburn said the department received multiple 911 calls from the Whataburger in the 700 block of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. about 2:20 a.m.

"Callers said a man was in the drive-through area of the parking lot wearing a black bandanna and threatening people with a handgun," Washburn said.

"Several deputies responded to the scene."

The man was standing in the parking lot behind the restaurant with a gun in his waistband when deputies arrived.

Washburn said they commanded him to drop the weapon, but he refused.

"They continued giving commands. He pulled up his shirt and reached into his waistband and pulled out the pistol," Washburn said.

"He assumed an aggressive stance and began bringing the gun up. One of the deputies shot him."

The sheriff said the deputy fired more than one shot but that it won't be known until after an autopsy how many shots hit the man or where.

Washburn said another man, the Rev. Dr. Curtis Lowe, was with Osborne when he was shot. "Even the pleas of his friend failed to get the man to respond."

Witnesses said Osborne was threatening people with the gun before deputies arrived.

Washburn wouldn't identify the weapon used by the deputy. But Deputy Peter Driscoll, a sheriff's department spokesman, said the gun of the man who was shot was a Crosman Repeater that strongly resembles a semiautomatic pistol. It fires pellets, he said.

The deputy was placed on administrative leave with pay, which is Department policy, deputy Driscoll said. The department has turned the investigation over to the Texas Rangers, also policy in an officer-involved shooting.