Man Kills 3 in Family, Self, Deputies Say

A Rancho Cucamonga man shot and killed his parents and an older brother Friday night at his family’s home before fatally turning the gun on himself, sheriff’s officials said.

The family’s father, Joseph A. (Bud) Dobson, 55, managed to call a telephone company operator shortly before 7 p.m. to report that he had been shot, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Dennis Casey said. When deputies arrived at the scene, the fatally wounded Dobson told them that one son, Robert, 32, had “gone crazy” and shot everyone in the family, Casey said.

Sheriff’s detectives said they had not determined a motive for the shootings, and are continuing their investigation.

Jeffrey Dobson, 27, the only surviving son, stood Saturday in front of his family’s modest, one-story home in a sparsely developed area of eastern Rancho Cucamonga, talking to family friends as he tried to make sense of what had happened the night before.

He said he was not at home when the shootings occurred, and learned about the deaths from an uncle, who stopped him as he approached the house hours later and told him “not to go in there, that the whole family is dead.”

“I don’t believe anything they say,” Jeffrey Dobson said tearfully of the sheriff’s reports that his brother killed the family. “I don’t know what’s fact or fiction right now. All I know is my brother never hit my Dad. If I had a brother that hit my Dad when he got mad, maybe I could believe it. But he loved us. Bobby loved us.”

The senior Dobson, a professional breeder and trainer of German Shepherd dogs who had published two books on the subject, died at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland, Casey said. Dobson’s wife, Joan, 53, was found dead at the scene. Two sons, Robert and Bruce, 34, were pronounced dead at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana, Casey said.

Sheriff’s detectives said Robert Dobson, who apparently shot himself in the head, was found in the backyard of the house on Hickory Avenue, near the dog enclosures that made up the family’s Shepherd Ranch Kennels. They said a 9-mm Beretta semiautomatic handgun, which they believe was used in all four shootings, was lying beside him.

A family friend, Patricia Spindler, who said she had grown up with the Dobson brothers, said Bud Dobson sold trained attack dogs for as much as $20,000 each to businesses, police agencies and individuals across the country. He also co-owned a nearby nursery with his brother-in-law, she said, explaining that Robert Dobson was living with his parents to help them with the two businesses.

“Bobby loved his family, man,” she said. “Bobby loved them. This doesn’t make any sense.”

Jeffrey Dobson said his brother, Bruce, lived in Santa Ana with his wife and their children and was visiting his parents at the time of the shootings.

‘He Wouldn’t Do It’

Frank Montes, operator of a truck painting business located on the other side of a wide, sandy wash fronting the Dobson home, said Robert Dobson wandered over to talk with Montes and his employees early Friday evening, as he often did.

Montes said Dobson talked about a land dispute the Dobson family was having with a neighboring property owner and was acting normally when he finished talking with him.

“Bob just left and 20 minutes later the police were there. He said he was coming right back,” Montes said.

“The guy wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t do it. There were a lot of things to make him mad, but he was a cool-headed guy,” Montes said. “Sometimes he would call me and say, ‘Hey, I’m coming over. I’m having a fight with my Dad and I’m just going to get out of his hair.’ He really admired his parents.”

A neighbor, who declined to be identified, said he also grew up with the Dobson brothers, but said his parents would not allow him to spend time with them “because they were too wild. They were troublemakers. They were always in trouble with the law The whole family fought a lot. To me, it wasn’t your basic family fight. It was a radical type of fighting.”

Sheriff’s Sgt. Jimmy Watkins said it was not uncommon for Bud Dobson to call deputies to the house to calm down fights among the three brothers.

“We got called out here all the time,” Watkins said, adding that most of the deputies who patrol the area became familiar with the family because of the calls.