oh my fucking god..
Concert Shooting
12.09.2004 2:10 AM EST
Unidentified man jumps onstage and shoots bandmembers, others.
Dimebag Darrell (file)
Photo: MTV News
Dimebag Darrell, guitarist for Damageplan and Pantera, was killed during a shooting spree at a Columbus, Ohio, nightclub Wednesday night. He was 38.
Darrell, real name Darrell Abbott, was among the five dead in the incident, including the
as-yet-unnamed shooter and two fans, Nathan Bray and Erin Halk, according to Columbus Police public information officer Sherry Mercurio.
Damageplan had just begun their first song in front of several hundred at Alrosa Villa when the gunman jumped onstage, made a comment about Pantera's breakup, and began firing at close range into Darrell's body, shooting him several times before opening fire on the crowd.
Mercurio said an officer in the vicinity heard the call of shots fired shortly after 10 p.m., snuck in the back door of the venue and confronted the gunman onstage. When the officer took the stage, he observed one victim and the gunman holding a hostage by the neck. The officer opened fire on the male suspect, whose name has not been released pending notification of next of kin. Mercurio said the fifth victim's name and those of the two wounded have also not yet been released. Several reports stated that the club had no metal detector, though Mercurio could not confirm that at press time and a club spokesperson could not be reached.
"If the officer hadn't acted when he did and how he did, we'd probably be looking at more dead, because this guy was actively shooting," said public information officer Sergeant Brent Mull. Following the incident, police took more than 200 patrons onto three city-donated buses to interview them about the shooting.
"The ones that were inside and witnessed this ran for their lives and were in fear for their lives," Hull said. "They are victims too, and we want to take care of them."
As news of Dimebag's tragic demise rippled through the metal community, the news was met with shock and sadness.
"I'm speechless," former Rob Zombie/ Ozzy Osbourne bassist Rob Blasko Nicholson said. "This is totally unreal. Dimebag is a f---ing legend and this is total bullsh--." Damageplan also features Dimebag's brother, former Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul; singer Patrick Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla.
"This is insane and this is beyond travesty," Killswitch Engage frontman and former Damageplan tour partner Howard Jones said. "This is beyond anything I've ever heard. This shouldn't happen in or outside of the rock and metal community. He will be missed and mourned as a person, as a musician, and as a friend."
i cannot fucking believe this..