Train Kills Man Playing Heavy Metal Music

A man who was walking along railroad tracks in Van Nuys on Tuesday while listening to heavy-metal music through earphones was hit by a train and killed, Los Angeles police said.

Detectives said the 22-year-old man was listening to an Ozzy Osbourne tape when he was hit.

The Van Nuys man, whose identity was not released pending notification of his family, was walking west on the Southern Pacific railroad along Raymer Street near the Van Nuys-North Hollywood border when he was hit by a westbound Amtrak train at 10:30 a.m., police said.

Witnesses said the man appeared to try to get off the tracks a moment before being struck, Detective Mel Arnold said.

Detective Phil Morritt said the death had not been classified as an accident pending further investigation.

In 1986, Osbourne was sued in Los Angeles Superior Court by the parents of a 19-year-old man who committed suicide. The suit, which was dismissed in August, 1986, alleged that their son had listened to an Osbourne song called “Suicide Solution” that contributed to his death.