Dimebag Darrell - Shot dead.

[Radium]

Here is the full story:


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 people killed during the incident. Also dead are the gunman, 25-year-old Nathan Gale of nearby Marysville, Ohio, and two fans, Nathan Bray, 23, and Erin Halk, 29, according to Columbus Police Department public information officer Sherry Mercurio. Gale also wounded two people.

Damageplan had just begun their first song in front of approximately 250 people at Alrosa Villa when the gunman jumped onstage, made a comment about Pantera, and began firing at close range into Darrell's body, shooting him several times before opening fire on the crowd.

A patrol officer nearby, James Niggemeyer, heard the call of shots fired at 10:18 p.m. and by 10:20 p.m. had snuck inside the club through a back door, according to public information officer Sergeant Brent Mull. After entering, Niggemeyer, who had no backup, confronted the gunman onstage, where he observed one victim and Gale holding a hostage by the neck.

"The officer was able to strategically gun this guy down before he was able to kill his hostage, and it appeared that he was about to kill his hostage," Mull said at a press conference Thursday (December 9). "The suspect had the hostage in a headlock situation and had his firearm out shooting, and it's believed he was about to take his gun to the hostage."

But the hostage wriggled out of the way slightly, Mull said, and the officer was able to kill the shooter with a single shotgun blast as the hostage escaped uninjured. One eyewitness told CNN that Gale reloaded his gun during the shooting spree. The Columbus Dispatch described the gunman as a tall, bald, heavyset man in a Columbus Blue Jackets jersey and jeans.

The fifth victim's name and those of the two wounded have not yet been released, but the club's manager told the Dispatch that one of the wounded was a security guard who had tried to wrestle the attacker's gun away.

"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," Mull said. Following the incident, police took more than 200 patrons onto three city-donated buses, where they were interviewed by some 60 police detectives.

"The ones that were inside and witnessed this ran for their lives and were in fear for their lives," Mull said. "They are victims too, and we want to take care of them."

In 911 tapes released Thursday, one caller tells the operator, "There's been a shooting! Somebody's shooting! He's shooting the band, oh sh--, he's still shooting!" Another is heard frantically telling the 911 operator, "We need to get out, we need to get out! I can't, I can't get out."

One concertgoer, his jeans torn and soaked with blood, told CNN he jumped onstage and attempted to give Darrell CPR before paramedics arrived.

Police have interviewed friends and relatives of the shooter, attempting to establish a motive for his actions. "We may never know the motive for this," Mull said, "unless he left a note somewhere else."

One eyewitness, 37-year-old food vendor Medhat Mokhtar, told MTV News that he saw Gale lingering outside the club prior to Damageplan's set. Gale paced near Mokhtar's food cart and only entered the club when Damageplan's performance began. Shortly thereafter, Mokhtar noticed concertgoers fleeing the club and screaming, and the vendor headed inside to see what the disturbance was. He said he then made his way to the stage where a crowd had gathered around the wounded Darrell. "I tried to push them away, but people loved him too much. The people were kissing his hands and his feet and trying to give him CPR," Mokhtar said.

Searching Gale's residence is the next step of the investigation, as is analyzing amateur video footage taken of the incident, which homicide investigators are looking at now, Mull said. The venue had no surveillance footage. Mull also said he had been told there was no metal detector at the club, though he could not confirm that at press time and a club spokesperson could not be reached.

As word of Dimebag's death 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--."

"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."

"Let's for a second forget that I even knew him, [and focus on] just the fact that this was allowed to happen," Slipknot singer Corey Taylor said. "If somebody can jump onstage with a gun and shoot one of the most influential guitarists of my generation, what's next? If this is allowed to happen, what the hell? What does that say? Just that somebody would think this was a good idea in his own insane world, what does that say about where we're at right now? It's definitely given me pause. I'm an entertainer as well as a musician, so I have to look at this and think not only has one of my really good friends died, but what if that had been me?"

Damageplan also features Dimebag's brother, former Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul; singer Patrick Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla.

[This story was updated at 4:40 p.m. ET on 12.09.2004]


This report is provided by MTV News

What the hell did DBD ever do to deserve that. He was just entertaining and was gunned down before they even finished their first song. Jesus christ why did god let this happen.

[Blake]

Im surprised this news wasnt actually posted earlier. It's been a sad couple of days for rock fans everywhere.

[Radium]

I very sad week. If this can happen to DBD it can happen to anybody. Pass the Cemetery Gates in peace DBD.

[knowitman]

I saw this in some other places. It was a sad day for the music industry. I actually know some people from Columbus, OH that will be coming to my house really soon for the Holidays.

[Radium]

Are they fans? Maybe they were at the event.

[PeanutButterMunky]

This really sucks He will be missed...

[gaming ultima]

i was talking to someone about it and he said that one of his friends almost cried lol

[PeanutButterMunky]

I cried when Kurt Cobain died...and so did my friend It sucks...

[Evolution]

I cried when Kurt Cobain died...and so did my friend It sucks...

I honestly couldnt get over emotional over such a situation, like someone dieing that ive never personally met before.

[knowitman]

I can understand you saying not crying for someone that has died that you never personaly met before, but when you have been a fan and supported that person for years and go to see that person and end up watching him get killed I can say it would be pretty emotional.

[PeanutButterMunky]

When you idolize someone a great deal, you become attached in some way...

[Radium]

It's like i cried when i heard Tears in Heaven. I had alot of personal stuff going on thet week and the Dimebag Darrell died. Then i listened to Tears In Heaven and i cried for like 15 - 20 minutes.

[Seb]

Pass the Cemetery Gates in peace DBD.

I assume you realise ‘Cemetery Gates’ was a Pantera song; otherwise that's a fairly ironic choice of words.

DBD will be missed. Phil Anselmo nearly killed himself from a heroin overdose quite a few years back and now DBD is shot dead. This truly is a sad set of events for the Thrash Metal industry and its fans. His ledgendary soloing skills will be missed greatly.

[Evolution]

Ive never even heard of Dimebag Darrell. Has he just been put into publicity as he has died, or was he actually any good.

[Seb]

Ive never even heard of Dimebag Darrell. Has he just been put into publicity as he has died, or was he actually any good.

Dimebag Darrel was super famous. He was the lead guitarist for possibly the most iconic metal bands of the 80's and 90's - Pantera.

[Evolution]

Ive never even heard of Dimebag Darrell. Has he just been put into publicity as he has died, or was he actually any good.

Dimebag Darrel was super famous. He was the lead guitarist for possibly the most iconic metal bands of the 80's and 90's - Pantera.

Nope, still hasnt shone any light in my face. Im afraid im pretty ignorant when it comes to music and Im quite oblivious to... well almost everything music wise really.

[Radium]

If you have any P2P programmes the do a check for Cemetery Gates by Pantera.

[Colin]

Cemetary Gates, Cowboys From Hell, My Name Is Revolution. I am a guitarist, who loved Pantera and DamagePlan, and when I heard this, I just sat stunned for about fifteen minutes. He had some of the best solos known to music.

[RPGDreamer]

coming up

[RPGDreamer]

In an interview with EuroGamer TV, Epic's Mark Rein feels that Sony is doing better than it's rival, Microsoft, did last year. During the interview, he talks about the positives of releasing dev kits early and what it means from a developer's point of view.

"I think Sony's in a good spot with the PlayStation 3," he said, "I know we're getting some great results with it back at our house, so I would expect other developers will be as well."

The PlayStation 3's launch and dev kit delivery has been the focus of many gaming enthusiasts after Sony announced that the PlayStation 3 will be released this November and failed to deliver promised final dev kids earlier this year. Critics of Sony's actions often say that Sony has failed to deliver where Microsoft has.

Rein, however, disagrees. "Developers were just getting final PS3 hardware [around E3], which is a long time before ship,"he said, adding that "Developers did not have finished Xbox 360 hardware last year at E3. So Sony's actually maybe in a better place vis-a-vis Microsoft in relation to launch."

When talking about his company's games, "[The E3 demo] was using our single-threaded rendered. We have our new Gemini multi-threaded rendered working in the engine right now," he explained. "The final game's built on it, it gives us better frame rates and more fluidity - UT 2007 will also benefit from it. It only gets better from here. So if you were impressed with Gears of War at E3, the finished game's going to be much better, it's going to be spectacular."

The PlayStation 3 will be launching this November 11th in Japan and November 17th in the rest of the world.


http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=66314

[ps3 Wanna be]

Great article Cera! You summarised the interview really well.

Live!

(After watching the interview, Mark Rein comes across as a really sound guy. Some of the stuff he said was really interesting, like the bit at the start about Intel integrated graphics)