http://www.nbc4i.com/news/3983630/detail.html

At Least 3 Dead, 4 Wounded In Nightclub Shooting
Witnesses: Alleged Gunman Went Onto Stage, Fired Shots

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- At least three people died and four others were wounded after a shooting at a Columbus nightclub on Wednesday night, NBC 4 reported.

The shooting took place shortly after 10 p.m. at Alrosa Villa, located at 5055 Sinclair Road.

Two members of the heavy metal band Damageplan were reportedly shot and killed, including Dimebag Darrell, formerly with the band Pantera, NBC 4's David Wayne reported. The alleged gunman also died at the scene, Wayne reported.

Shortly after the band began playing its first song, a man reportedly ran onto the stage and began shooting, according to a witness who identified himself as Sean. Some members of the audience reportedly thought the man running onto the stage with a gun was part of the band's act, NBC 4's Erin Tate reported.

Witnesses said that several shots were fired at the band. Witnesses said that a bouncer at the club tackled the alleged gunman before that person was shot and killed. It was unclear as to whom shot the alleged gunman.

Alrosa Villa is a popular north Columbus nightspot for young adults, featuring rock and heavy metal bands, NBC 4 reported.

According to the band's Web site, Damageplan was touring nationally. It performed in Buffalo, N.Y., on Tuesday night and had a concert scheduled in Flint, Mich., on Thursday.

Damageplan featured former Pantera artists Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. The pair were joined by vocalist Patrick Lachman and bassist Bobzilla, according to their Web site.


That's not good.

Holy shit.

That is seriously fucked up.

the link now says 5 dead. fucked

Wow.

this is beyond horrible.

I am at a loss for words. Seriously I cannot comprehend the heinous nature of this crime or the effect it will have on concerts in the future. One of my first shows was Panteran.sadfjl;aju23694 sdg

dimebag was one of the main reasons why i started getting into music and playing guitar.... this is so fucked up..... i think vinnie paul is dead too according to cnn.com

Oh, God, if Vinnie Paul's dead, what a tragedy. Their mother just lost two sons. This is just sickening.

oh for the love of music.

That is crazy. I was a fan of Pantera back in the day.

Thank fuck the scumbag who did it is dead, may he rot in hell. I would like to know what the motive was specially as he shot into the crowd, erin's an american girls name isn't it? What a scumbag. Depending on the motive I may be putting this on the chavscum forum.

According to this article only one of the brothers killed. Still sucks for their mother. RIP Dimebag

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... b_shooting

Former Pantera Guitarist Killed on Stage

2 minutes ago U.S. National - AP


By JAY COHEN, Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A gunman charged onstage at a packed nightclub and opened fire on the band and the crowd, killing top heavy metal guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott and three other people before a police officer shot him to death, authorities and witnesses said.


AP Photo

Five Dead, Including Gunman at Ohio Nightclub
(AP Video)



Columbus police department spokeswoman Sherry Mercurio identified three of the victims of Wednesday's shooting as Abbott, guitarist with the heavy metal rock band Damageplan, and two other men, Nathan Bray and Erin Halk.


Damageplan had just begun their first song at the Alrosa Villa when the man opened fire, first targeting Abbott, shooting him multiple times at point-blank range, a witness said.


Abbott, 38, one of metal's top guitarists, and his brother, Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, were original members of Grammy-nominated thrash rock pioneers Pantera, one of the most popular metal bands of the early 1990s.


The witness, 22-year-old Chris Couch, said he was standing about 30 feet away from the stage when he noticed a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and hockey jersey walk up to the stage, followed by a bouncer and another club employee.


The man in the jersey climbed onto the stage, started yelling and shot the guitarist five or six times at close range, Couch said. He said the gunman also shot a bouncer who pulled him off the musician.


Columbus police spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull said that after shooting at members of the band, the gunman fired into the crowd. Mull said a police officer who arrived shortly after the shooting began shot and killed the gunman.


"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."


Mercurio said the officer who killed the suspect was patrolling nearby when he heard the call go out. He entered the club through a back door and was directed to the stage, where he saw one person lying dead and the suspect holding onto another person, Mercurio said. The officer shot and killed the suspect.


The suspect's name and that of the fifth person killed were not immediately released. Mercurio said their family members are still being notified.


After the shooting began, Couch and a friend headed for the exit along with a tide of hundreds of fans.


"It was definitely a grudge. It was against something," Couch said.


Amanda Stankus, 19, who attended the show with Couch, said she initially thought the shooting was part of the show. "I just saw the guitarist fall down, and we decided to get out of there," she said.


The Abbott brothers produced Damageplan's debut album, "New Found Power," which was released in February. Other band members are vocalist Patrick Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla.


"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. "We do play some Pantera songs. Me and Dime wrote them, and we feel like we have the right to play them. But the focus is on Damageplan.


"It took a while 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."


A message left with Atlantic Records, which oversees the record label on which Damageplan records, was not immediately returned.





Damageplan's Web site said Darrel and Vinnie Abbott grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area where their father, country songwriter Jerry Abbott, owned a recording studio.

Telephone numbers for both Darrell and Jerry Abbott are unlisted and could not be reached early Thursday by The Associated Press.

Pantera, known for its brutally hard, fast and aggressive sound, recorded four albums in the 1990s. They attracted a massive cult following and the band's third release, "Far Beyond Driven," debuted at No. 1 in 1994, surprising chart-watchers and critics alike.

Pantera was nominated for Grammys (news - web sites) for best metal performance in 1995 for "I'm Broken" and in 2001 for "Revolution Is My Name." The video "The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits," made charts earlier this year as one of the top 10 in music video sales.

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

"This is the worst day in metal history," one posting read.

"The metal world feels your pain," another wrote.

___

Associated Press writer Jay Jorden in Dallas contributed to this rep

That includes the gunman who was shot and killed.

So it sounds like this was just a crazed fan who was pissed at Darrell and Vinnie for supposedly being responsible for Pantera's demise. They are saying it's more than likely now that Vinnie is the other band member who was killed.

I'm at a loss for words. It's disgusting.

holy fuck. I'm at an extreme loss for words right now. This is just terrible. Glad the fuck that did that is dead though.