Plea Bargain Gives Gunman 11 Years in Prison for Shooting Estranged Wife, Son-in-Law

A Sylmar air-conditioning engineer was sentenced Friday to 11 years in prison for shooting his estranged wife and son-in-law.

Thirst O’Banion Jr., 47, also tried to fire a shot at his daughter during the Oct. 8, 1984, shooting rampage, witnesses said, but the handgun jammed and he left without harming her.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge John H. Major ordered O’Banion, who pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder, to serve the maximum term allowed under a plea bargain arranged in February. O’Banion could have been sentenced to as much as 14 years in prison if he had been convicted without the plea bargain, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven Ogden, who prosecuted the case.

Rosalie O’Banion, 45, had separated from her husband of 27 years about six weeks before the shootings, a probation report says. After O’Banion repeatedly asked his wife for a reconciliation, he walked into the office of the Canoga Park apartment development where she worked and shot her three times, the report says.

Victims Recovered

Thirty minutes later, O’Banion walked into the Reseda home his daughter, Tina White, shares with her husband, Jeff White, and fired a single shot through the man’s jaw before turning the gun on his daughter, police said.

Both shooting victims were seriously injured, but have made complete recoveries. They sat in a back row of the courtroom during the session Friday, crying and muttering disbelief at O’Banion’s statement of remorse.

O’Banion, who briefly spoke before he was sentenced, said he was sorry and that he “wanted to let the people know that I do not want to hurt them or harm them in any way.”

But Ogden characterized O’Banion as a “mean, vicious, violent, sadistic person” who had verbally and physically abused his family for many years.

O’Banion will be eligible for parole in about four years, defense attorney Victor Kenton said.