[atlantaprog] Re: Breaking News: Former Pantera guitarist


here's the Reuters article:


Five Die in Ohio Heavy Metal Band Shooting Thu Dec 9, 2004 09:18 AM ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - A man charged on stage and opened fire on a heavy metal band at a crowded bar in Columbus on Wednesday night, killing four people and wounding two others before being killed by police, officials said.

Among the dead was "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, guitarist for the band Damageplan, who witnesses said appeared to have been singled out by the gunman and shot several times at close range, local media reported.

One witness said the gunman fired at least 16 shots, both at the band and the crowd inside the Alrosa Villa on the city's north side where about 200 patrons were attending a Damageplan performance.

Other witnesses said a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt climbed on the stage and began screaming and shooting.

Sgt. Brent Mull, spokesman for the Columbus police, said a police officer called to the scene shot and killed the gunman. "We believe he saved other lives" by shooting the gunman, he said.

Two people who were wounded were taken to a hospital.

Mull said the motive for the shooting was not known. The Columbus Dispatch and the NBC television affiliate in Columbus, WCMH, reported that one of the dead was the guitarist Abbott.

The television station said the band was playing its first number in a set when chaos broke out. Some members of the audience initially thought the affair might have been part of the band's act, the station said.

Abbott, 38, and his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul, were previously with Texan thrash metal band Pantera, which formed in the early 1980s.

That group topped the U.S. album charts with its 1994 release "Far Beyond Driven," which also yielded a Grammy nomination. After the band's bitter break-up the brothers formed Damageplan with singer Pat Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla.

Damageplan's debut album, "New Found Power" -- hailed for its "violent dissonance" by Blender magazine -- hit No. 38 on the U.S. charts earlier this year.

(Additional reporting by Dean Goodman in Los Angeles)=20
=A9 Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.


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