Napa County Marine dies protecting others outside Vallejo restaurant

That was how Scotty’s Restaurant waitress Teresa Brasher described longtime patron Bob Sundin, a 70-year-old Napan and Marine Corps veteran who lost his life to a shooting Thursday morning.

Sundin was a longtime member of Marine Corps League Chapter 870, Yountville.

Brasher was pulling up in her car to open the restaurant at about 5:30 a.m. when she noticed Sundin pulling up in his truck behind her near 1645 Tennessee St. Moments later, Brasher got out of her car, noticing a morning “filled with more fog than usual.”

“I pulled in to work, Bob pulls in behind me with his truck and I started to get out of my car. I always look around me and I had my purse and my keys ready to open the door,” Brasher said. “Suddenly I saw a young Black man, probably in his early 30s, came up near me on an electric scooter. He had a ski mask on, but I could see the white in his eyes. He pointed at my purse and that he wanted it and immediately I jumped back into my car, shut the door and locked it. The man was around my car trying to get me to come out.”

That’s when Brasher saw Sundin get out of his truck.

“I saw Bob get out of his car and I was telling myself, ‘No, no, no, no, don’t get out! Please, don’t get out,” Brasher said. “Bob is not aggressive or mean — he’s a real sweetheart. But he was just defending me. The man grabbed Bob’s shirt and then it looked like Bob grabbed his shirt. Then I heard a gunshot.

“I freaked out and drove off near Shasta Street and called the police,” Brasher continued. “I was hysterical at that point. The police then told me they were down in front of the restaurant and that I should come back. When I came back and saw Bob laying on the ground with a bullet in his head. I immediately freaked out. This was such a stupid and senseless crime.”

According to a news release from Vallejo Police, officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 1600 block of Tennessee Street. On arrival, officers located an adult male victim — Sundin — suffering at least one gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.

The motive and circumstances involving the shooting are under investigation. Anyone with information on this case has been asked to contact Detective Phillips at 707-648-4514 or Detective McDonough at 707-648-5425.

Detectives had not released further information about the case as of Monday afternoon, according to Sgt. Rashad Hollis, spokesperson for Vallejo Police.

Brasher has been working at Scotty’s for 22 years. Although she’s often thought about taking other jobs, her relationships with the customers kept her there.

Customers liked Sundin.

“Oh, he talked about everything and every time he came in he’d ask, ‘How old are you? and ‘Is it Howdy Doody time?'” Brasher said. “He was a veteran that lived in Napa with his wife, and he was just an awesome person. He belonged to some church in Napa and recently he was talking about the Toys For Tots Drive he was part of.

“There is just something about some of the customers that come in every day,” Brasher said, fighting back tears. “When they come in, I know that I’m going to start their day off with a laugh. It might be a corny joke, but I’m going to make them smile. So this is tough. Bob was just a great person, and he saved my life. He’s an absolute hero.”

James Tubridy, commandant of Marine Corps League Napa Detachment 870, was shocked to hear of Sundin’s death. Tubridy said Sundin was known as “Top” to his friends.

“Bob ‘Top’ Sundin was our Adjutant and backbone,” Tubridy said. “He was fiercely devoted to our group and to veterans’ causes in the North Bay. Toys for Tots is near and dear to us all, so it’s no wonder ‘Top’ was spreading the word at Scotty’s. He was selfless and untiring.”

“He was always there for the Marine Corps League, made sure we kept going,” said Vincent Rigoni, a longtime member of the Napa detachment who served as its paymaster before Sundin later took over the role. “He’s the one that pretty much kept the organization going.

“He was a very generous person, always giving; he was always there for everybody,” added Rigoni, who first met Sundin and his wife Sandra at a Veterans Home memorial ceremony.

After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and retiring as a master sergeant, Sundin worked for the Veterans Affairs department before joining the Marine Corps League in Napa, according to Rigoni.

At various ceremonies and observances over the years, Sundin spoke of the need for Napans to remember their peers who worked to protect them.

“We must remember our veterans because they have served,” he told the Napa Valley Register in May 2011 during a Memorial Day ceremony at the Yountville Veterans Home, where more than 5,700 service members are buried at the home’s cemetery. Reflecting on those Americans who have joined the armed forces since the draft was abolished in 1973, he said: “They’re serving because they want to protect this nation.”

Eight years later, Sundin put out a call for fellow veterans to clean gravestones at the Veterans Home and assist the “hardcore group” of regular helpers.

“If you have been slacking off or not involved with the Marine Corps League detachment, you are forgiven, and here is a great opportunity to get reconnected and perform a duty to the servicemen buried” outside the Yountville home, he said before a volunteer event in September 2019.

Vallejo has seen more homicides this year than in 2021, when the city had 20. In 2020, the city had 29 homicides. In September of this year, Vallejo saw seven homicides in the span of three weeks.

Brasher said a friend told her that they’ve seen a similar-looking person to the suspect often at the 7-Eleven off Georgia Street.

“I hope they find him soon,” Brasher said. “It’s just getting so goddam bad in Vallejo. I’m sick of this.”

A GoFundMe site created to raise $10,000 for Sundin’s survivors had collected $13,736 by Monday afternoon.

With reports from Vallejo Times-Herald reporter Thomas Gase and Napa Valley Register city editor Howard Yune.