It’s hard to believe that seven years have passed since legendary ex-PANTERA guitarist DIMEBAG DARRELL ABBOTT was senselessly shot and killed while performing on the stage with his new project DAMAGEPLAN in the evening on December 8th, 2004 at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio.
A crazed former Marine named Nathan Gale had stormed the stage with a handgun during the start of the performance and fatally shot Darrell and three other people (band head of security Jeff “Mayhem” Thompson, club security member Erin Halk and one gutsy fan named Nathan Bray) who tried to intervene and do all that they could to save the metal icon.
Authorities said Gale, 25, of Marysville, Ohio, was still shooting rounds and had taken a hostage when Columbus policeman James Niggemeyer got a drop on the armed gunmen when he entered the nightclub alone, killing Gale with a shotgun blast to the head while the suspect still had a hostage in his arms, band roadie, John “Kat” Brooks. Investigators later said Gale had 35 bullets left.
Under a year before the fatal killing spree, on April 5, 2004, Gale had a chaotic fight with security on stage during another DAMAGEPLAN show in Cincinnati, Ohio, causing literally thousands in damages.
Gale had received a medical discharge from the Marines in September 2003, due to his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. His mother had actually purchased the weapon he used during the slayings as a gift after Gale had returned home from being ousted from military service.
All these years later, we must ask ourselves: could this sort of tragedy ever happen again?
Unfortunately, in this crazy world… the answer is undoubtedly, yes. Let us just hope and pray it does not.
In the end, the metal world lost one of the greatest ever to jam the six strings. There will never
again be such a fun, compassionate character like Dimebag. One can only dream about what he could have continued to accomplish as the undisputed ‘King of Modern Heavy Metal Guitar’.
Yes, the one and only Darrell Lance Abbott of Arlington, Texas is more missed today than ever.
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Dimebag was taken from us all too soon but his off-stage antics and face-melting guitar shredding will ring out through generations to come. The world lost a true prodigy of metal from this insane murder. I’m a huge fan myself and this year for the anniversary of his passing, drew a new portrait of Darrell on my artist’s blog and made a head-banging tribute video for this dearly departed God of Rock which you can watch at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/12/dimebag-darrell-tribute-video.html
Seven years have gone by and you are still not forgotten. One of the great guitar players was cheated outta of his life. Dime got me thru a lot of tough times and still does!! You will always be loved and always in our memory. Thank you dime for the best bad ass riffs you gave to us all. R.I.P Dime Getha Pull!