Space Monkey

Holy crap!!!!!!

Taken from:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6683479/?GT1=5936


COLUMBUS, Ohio - Police said Thursday they have found no apparent motive for a shooting rampage at an Ohio nightclub that left five people dead, including the gunman and top heavy metal guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.
The gunman had a hostage in a headlock and appeared to be preparing to kill him when an officer responding to reports of a shooting at the nightclub opened fire and killed the gunman, police spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull said. The hostage escaped uninjured, Mull said.

Two other people were hospitalized. Police said one was in intensive care and the other stable.

Police identified the gunman as Nathan Gale, 25, of Marysville, 25 miles northwest of Columbus. Police said they had no information on a motive or any connection to Abbott or his band, the Texas-based group Damageplan.

Band was playing first song
Damageplan had just begun its first song at Alrosa Villa club Wednesday night when the gunman climbed onstage, started yelling and shot Abbott five or six times at point-blank range, witness Chris Couch said.

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Mull said the gunman’s exact statement was unclear because of the loud music. He said some witnesses reported hearing an accusation about Abbott breaking up his former band, thrash-rock pioneer Pantera, but it could not be confirmed whether the speaker was the gunman or a fan.

Couch, 22, said the man was wearing a hooded sweat shirt and was followed by a bouncer and another club employee.

Couch said that after firing on the guitarist, the gunman shot a bouncer who had pulled him off the musician, while fans surged toward the exit. The gunman then fired into the crowd of more than 250 people, Mull said.

Officer arrives within two minutes
Mull said Officer James D. Niggemeyer, patrolling nearby, arrived within two minutes of hearing the call. Niggemeyer, 31, saw one person lying dead and the suspect holding onto another “pretty much in a headlock,” Mull said.

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He said the hostage, “probably a fan, maybe someone who worked with the band,” was able to maneuver out of the way before the officer fired.

Mull praised Niggemeyer’s response.

“If the officer wasn’t as close as he was, I think this would have been a lot worse,” he said. “It was a chaotic scene, just a horrific scene.”

Besides Abbott and Gale, police said the dead included Nathan Bray, 23, and Erin Halk, 29. Police said the name of the fifth person killed was being withheld pending notification of family.

Couch said he believed the shooter had a plan. “It was definitely a grudge. It was against something,” he said.

‘We may never know a motive’
Mull said he believed there was amateur video that officers could view for clues but that police had no answers yet. “We may never know a motive for this, unless he left a note,” Mull said.

Gale has a minor police record in Marysville, said Police Chief Floyd Golden. He was pulled over for driving with a suspended license last month.

Thursday morning, a dozen yellow roses, still in plastic wrap, lay near the entry to the low-slung beige building that since 1974 has hosted mostly heavy metal acts. The 641-person-capacity club, just off a freeway exit on the city’s north side, sits amid motels, small businesses and office complexes.

Dozens of messages were posted to the band’s Web site after the shootings.

‘The worst day in metal history’
“This is the worst day in metal history,” one posting read.

“The metal world feels your pain,” another wrote.

Damageplan’s debut album, “New Found Power,” which was released in February by Elektra, was produced by Abbott and his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott. Other band members are vocalist Patrick Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla.

Earlier, the brothers had been members of the Grammy-nominated Pantera, whose popularity soared in the early 1990s with a fast, aggressive sound.

“Damageplan carries on the tradition Pantera started, the ... hell-raising tradition we were all about,” Vinnie Paul Abbott told The Dallas Morning News in October.

“It took awhile for some of the Pantera fans to accept it; we knew that was gonna be the case,” he said. “Change is something that people have a hard time accepting. But me and Dime intended on doing this our whole lives.”

The shootings came exactly 24 years after John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York apartment building by a deranged fan.

MSNBC.com's Mike Brunker and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

knivesout

I suppose Charlton Heston will be the next act in that nightclub.


RIP, Dimebag.

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Circus Cranium

That is insanely tragic. What is wrong with people?

McMurphy

It is, indeed, a tragic and horrific event. I have a couple of Pantera's albums and liked the band's early stuff.

I wonder if the gunman was even aware that it was the 24th anniversary of John Lennon's death...

hodor

Sometimes I just wonder what the heck goes through some ppls heads. It seems more and more the answer is somewhere down the barrel of a gun... Pantera rocks.. this is truly a horrible event for the fans of Pantera, the metal scene, and the world in general. It's really sad to know that the government can't or won't do anything about incredible number of people that die each year in relation to guns.

aftermath

It is a tragic thing. I lovedpantera and enjoyed damage plan quite a bit. Last night at the concert I was at (death metal) every band did a tribute for dimebag.

hodor

That's great to hear

Space Monkey

Yeah this sucks so bad.
Screw the Pantera fans, my heart goes out to the family - especially Vinnie.

Adramalek

It is the fault of the security in tha club...... now days, owners dont want anybody searching the customers.... cus they say..... if you boder them, theyll go away and We will lose money..... I have worked doors for almost 14 years now,..... and that type of inci. can be stoped at the door, if and only if the owners..... first.... have good and exp. sec. and that costs money.... at least $100 p/n, per bouncer..... and thats to much for some cheap bastards,... that dont care for the well being of the people comming to the estab...... this should open the eyes of anybody in the buss..... that you don't have to be first on the charts,.... to use good sec..... plus the lifestyle of some of these types dont help ither....... cus if you go around buying this or that from the first guy you see on the street,.... guess why they call him Dimebag heeee... expecting not to be touch cus you used to be on MT freacking V a couple of years ago.... this can happen... is a join effort,,,,,, the personality IE: singer, actor ext. and the people from his or hers sec det. and the sec. of the place that they are going to be playing at.......

MentalIsues69

i was on my other forums when i found out that he was shot. Many were in eyes. Its so sad to see a legend die at the hands of a manic... but then again, not only him but others died as well. I was very sadden at this event, even though, i wasn't much into pantera. Its sad when a musican, or anyone, dies.

RIP. Dimebag Darrell. His legend will go on and may he rest in peace