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OLDSMAR (FOX 13) - A chance encounter nine days ago between a well-known local drummer and former Michigan police officer turned deadly in an Oldsmar bar early Wednesday morning when the former officer showed up after being kicked out, pulled out a gun and murdered the other man.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Brian Mytych got into a fight Feb. 6 with David Patrick Brown, who was training to be a cook at Hennessy's Bar an Grill on Forest Lakes Boulevard, after Mytych used racial slurs toward the musicians playing that evening. Investigators said Mytych was drunk and told to leave the bar, but refused, so he was arrested.
Mytych showed back up at the bar Wednesday despite the trespass warning he received after the fight with Brown. He was ordered to leave, which he did, but returned a short time later. That's when, according to witnesses, Mytych shot Brown, 33, multiple times.
"After he shot the victim multiple times with his firearm, the suspect called 911," said Pinellas County Sgt. Spencer Gross. "He told the other patrons in the bar to leave and the suspect stayed here at the bar until deputies responded."
Deputies said they found a .45-caliber handgun inside the bar along with Mytych, who admitted to the shooting.
Brown, who went by "Patrick," was the drummer for the Hope Darling Band, which often played at Hennessy's. Wednesday also would have been his first time running the kitchen.
Hours after the shooting, the bar had reopened but friends and patrons were stunned.
"We're all really devastated. We're all hurt over it," said Lynn Spies, a friend who is a regular at the bar. "What has the world come to that people feel that they have to resort to measures like this instead of just leaving when you're asked to leave?"
Brown was also an Army veteran who was medically discharged a couple years ago. He leaves behind a wife and son. Brown's family released a statement that read, in part, "Patrick was loved by many and the void created with his death won't be able to be filed."
Mytych has been charged with first-degree murder. The sheriff's office said Mytych worked as a police officer with the Detroit Police Department for five years, then with the nearby Westland Police Department for 13 years.
FOX 2 in Detroit reports that Mytych spent most of his last two years with WPD on paid medical leave before being terminated three months ago.