Man bludgeoned to death with barbell at Bally Total Fitness gym

A Bay Area area plumber was arrested Thursday after he allegedly bludgeoned a man to death with a steel barbell at a Bally Total Fitness gym, police said.

Kenneth Osako, a member of the gym at 180 El Camino Real in South San Francisco, attacked the man Wednesday night using a “solid steel bar, normally used to lift weights,” striking him several times in the head, police said in a statement.

Osako then allegedly dropped the bar and fled.

The victim, whose name has not been released, died the next day at San Francisco General Hospital.

Osako, 46, was arrested Thursday morning by South San Francisco police and a special agent from the Department of Homeland Security. He was being held in San Mateo County Jail without bail in connection with the death.

Osako and the victim were longtime members of the gym, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

A man who works the gym’s front desk told the Chronicle that a maintenance worker had seen the victim talking to a woman shortly before he was attacked.

“I think [Osako] saw the other guy talking to her, flirting with her, and I think he got really angry, came up from behind and hit him in the head with a bar we use for tricep dips,” Felipe Mendes told the paper.

Osako was known by workers in the gym to get “jealous a lot,” Mendes added.

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