December 8, 2004; 19 years ago (2004-12-08) 10:20 – 10:23 p.m. EST (UTC−05:00)
Target
Dimebag Darrell
Attack type
Mass shooting
Weapons
Beretta 92FS semi-automatic pistol
Deaths
5 (including the perpetrator)
Injured
3
Perpetrator
Nathan Gale
Defender
James Niggemeyer
Motive
Inconclusive (possible persecutory delusions caused by paranoid schizophrenia)
On December 8, 2004, four people were murdered and three others were wounded in a mass shooting at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The main target of the attack was "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, who was on stage performing with his band Damageplan at the time of the shooting. During the opening song, 25-year-old Nathan Gale rushed the stage and released a series of bullets, killing Abbott. Three minutes after opening fire, Gale was shot and killed by police officer James Niggemeyer.
Abbott sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene. The other fatalities were Jeffrey "Mayhem" Thompson, Damageplan's head of security who tackled Gale; Erin Halk, an Alrosa employee who tried to restrain Gale; and Damageplan fan Nathan Bray, who had jumped onto the stage to aid Abbott and Thompson. Damageplan's tour manager Chris Paluksa and drum technician John Brooks suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds and were taken to Riverside Methodist Hospital, while road crew member Travis Burnett was treated at the scene.
The motive for the shooting is still unknown. Gale, a former member of the United States Marine Corps, had told his mother and employer that he had been discharged due to paranoid schizophrenia, and many of his friends observed erratic behavior from Gale in the months leading up to the shooting. Some news outlets claimed that Gale was angry with Abbott for the dissolution of his previous band Pantera, while others believed that Gale was operating under the delusion that Pantera had plagiarized his lyrics and were attempting to steal his identity.
A number of heavy metal artists released tributes to Abbott after his death, while others pushed for increased security at concerts to prevent another such incident. Niggemeyer was valorized for his action and later retired from the police department in 2011 with post-traumatic stress disorder. Abbott's brother and Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul resented singer Phil Anselmo for his perceived role in influencing the shooter, and remained distant from the other members of the band until his death in 2018.
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