Nathan Gale

Guitarist Darrell Abbott, better known by his stage name of "Dimebag Darrell", founded the American heavy metal band Pantera in 1981 alongside his brother Vincent Abbott, better known as Vinnie Paul.

After the release of their album Reinventing the Steel in 2000, tensions arose between the Abbott brothers and lead singer Phil Anselmo, and although Pantera never officially disbanded, by 2003, the band members had moved on to other projects.

The Abbott brothers recruited Patrick Lachman, former guitarist for Halford, to form the heavy metal band Damageplan.

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.

Three minutes after opening fire, the perpetrator, 25-year-old Nathan 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.

Damageplan released their first album, New Found Power, in February 2004, and spent most of the year on tour to promote the title.

On April 8, 2004, a Pantera fan named Nathan Gale interrupted a Damageplan performance at Bogart's nightclub in Cincinnati, Ohio, jumping onto the stage and causing US$1,800 of damage to lighting and other stage equipment during an ensuing police struggle.

While officers responding to a 9-1-1 call about the incident noted Gale's actions as criminal endangerment and destruction of property, Damageplan elected not to press charges as they did not want to return to Cincinnati for court proceedings.

The band was unfazed by the incident.

An attendee later stated that, after Gale had been removed from the venue, Lachman had joked, "I'd like to introduce you to the fifth member of the [expletive] band."

On Wednesday, December 8, 2004, Damageplan was headlining a concert at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio.

The venue had a capacity of 600 and had sold 250 tickets for the evening's show.

Club manager Rick Cautela and other concertgoers noticed Gale loitering in the parking lot during the opening acts, Volume Dealer and 12 Gauge, and asked why he was outside, to which he responded, "I don't want to see no shitty local bands [...] I'm gonna wait for Damageplan."

By the time that Damageplan took the stage at 10:15 p.m. EST, the crowd had grown to approximately 400.

Gale entered the premises by scaling a 6 ft wooden fence on the north side of the venue and entering through a patio door.

At 10:20 p.m., partway into the opening song of Damageplan's set, Gale, dressed in a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey jersey and a hooded sweatshirt, jumped onto the stage and drew his Beretta 92FS 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

He moved directly towards Abbott and shot him four times at point-blank range: in the right cheek, the left ear, the back of the head, and the right hand.

Joe Dameron, the bassist for Volume Dealer, said that Gale shouted something, but did not know what.

Some attendees did not realize that a shooting had taken place, with security guard Ryan Melchiore stating, "people were pumping their fists, thinking it was a hoax."

After shooting Abbott, Gale began firing on other attendees, beginning with tour manager Chris Paluska, who was shot once in the chest before Damageplan security chief Jeffrey "Mayhem" Thompson tackled Gale from behind.

Thompson was fatally shot in the chest, back, and upper thigh in the ensuing struggle.

Nathan Bray, a Damageplan fan, leapt onto the stage and was fatally shot in the chest while attempting to resuscitate Abbott and Thompson.

Erin "Stoney" Halk, an Alrosa Villa employee and former Marine who had either assisted Thompson or had charged Gale while he was reloading, was mortally wounded by six shots: four in the chest, one in the hand, and one in the leg.

Travis Burnett, a member of Volume Dealer's road crew, attempted to disarm Gale and was grazed by a bullet on his left forearm.

Burnett fled the scene when subsequent gunshots were aimed at his head.

Drum technician John "Kat" Brooks attempted to subdue Gale.

He was shot twice in the leg and was taken as a hostage.

Responding within three minutes to a 9-1-1 dispatch call, Officer James Niggemeyer of the Columbus Division of Police (CPD) entered the club through a backstage door and shot Gale once in the face with a 12-gauge Remington Model 870 shotgun, killing him instantly.

At the time of his death, Gale had a half-full magazine in his Beretta and another thirty rounds of ammunition on his person.

Fans removed Abbott from the stage and attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived at the scene, where Abbott was pronounced dead.

Niggemeyer was valorized for his action, but 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.