Former Pantera Guitarist Killed on Stage

4 minutes ago U.S. National - AP


By JAY COHEN,

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A man charged onstage at a packed heavy metal show and opened fire, killing at least four people including guitarist Darrel Abbott before an arriving officer shot him to death, authorities said.






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, one of metal's top guitarists, and his brother, Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, were original members of 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."


Mull said more people could have been shot and left the scene before authorities arrived.


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.


Other members of Damageplan include vocalist Patrick Lachman and bass player Bob Zilla, according to the band's Web site.


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 Jerry Abbott owned a recording studio. Another entry on the site lists the elder Abbott as a country-western songwriter.


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 between 1990 and 1996. 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.

There's a thread on this over in Music: Non Prince:

http://www.prince.org/msg/8/125258

Sad, sad news.



Love that guy's playing.

Rest in peace Dime.

Dime was a legend, an awesome guitarist

I hate having to use the past tense

subhuman09 said:

my apologies... didnt know bout the other post

its sad though ... so very sad

what a reflection on our society

this happened real close to were i live



RIP

Mach said:

Don't worry about duplicating the thread, it's just good to see someone else who cares about this


And yeah, what a sad reflection on life and society.

Ban guns, simple as that, get rid of them completely.

ella731 said:

You know, I saw it was in Ohio and I very nearly asked if you knew where it was..



I guess I won't be asking you to try and get my band a gig there

OMG, that is horrific!

This is fucked up. And I guess it was the same date 25 yrs ago that John Lennon was murdered by a deranged fan. What's wrong with people? Christ.

I literally woke-up with the t.v. blasting this news. : (

While I didn't know the current band he was in, Pantera's sound was Dimebag.
Whether you knew or liked Pantera is irrelevant, this is a loss of a great musician.

R.I.P.

Holy crap!!! This is terrible!

Mach said:

Just wanted to steer people to more updates, tribute and respect if they so wished.

It's horrible, horrible news-no one deserves that fate-whoever they are.