Five years ago, December 8th, 2004 is a day that will live with me forever. Many people have asked me "what exactly happened?" that awful December night. I have decided to type out my entire story of that day - tedious details and all. It's a long read, and I'm not much of a writer, but here it is:
December 8th, 2004 started out like any normal day for me. I went to Upper Sandusky, Ohio to Time Services in order to take a drug test and apply for a temporary job at Mansfield Brass & Aluminum in New Washington, Ohio. After filling out all of the paper work and taking the drug test, I drove all the way to New Washington in order to take a tour of the factory. I decided pretty quickly that the job wasn't for me, due to having to carry large buckets of molten metal...something I'd probably be rather clumsy at. Seemed a bit dangerous for me, so I decided I didn't want the job. I was using my little sister Lindsay's car that day, because my van was having brake problems.
Later that night, I was planning to go see Damageplan at the Alrosa Villa, in Columbus, Ohio, with my cousin Mike. When I got ahold of Mike, he was sleeping and he didn't feel like going. We are both huge Pantera fans, but he didn't really dig the Damageplan album very much. I was quick to point out that it was only $8 for a ticket (neither of us had one, we were going to pay at the door), and $8 is an amazing price to see Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul from Pantera jamming at such a small club. But he decided he wasn't going and there was no changing his mind.
I talked online with a few friends from local bands that I recorded, and all of them had plans and couldn't go with me. So I decided I was going to head to the show by myself. I thought it was insane that I couldn't find a single person willing to spend $8 to see Dimebag & Vinnie jamming at the Alrosa. On AOL Instant Messenger, I talked to my friend Tim Lyons from the Kansas City band L.I.E., and told him I was going to go see Damageplan later that night, and I told him that I would burn a compilation CD of L.I.E. tunes to give to Dimebag. I thought I'd surely get to meet and hang out with him for a few, as he was universally known as one of the most fan-friendly musicians in all of heavy metal. My friend Phil Ondich, who is the original drummer in Black Label Society (who got the chance to hang out with Pantera in Japan in June of 2000) actually happened to guest on one of the L.I.E. tunes, so I figured Dimebag might enjoy hearing it, as he was of course a big fan of BLS. So I burned the CD of L.I.E. tunes, put it into a paper slipcase, and wrote the track names and information on it, and at the top I wrote "Dime" and underlined it.
I also talked to Chad Lee, the photographer who toured with Damageplan several times and was really good friends with them. He told me that he and Chad Dyer, then the webmaster of ZakkWylde.com were meeting with Dean Zelinsky of Dean Guitars the next day, picking up Dimebag's new finished "Razorback" guitar, and taking it to the show that was to take place on December 9th in Flint, Michigan (the final scheduled show of the tour) for a photoshoot. Dimebag hadn't yet seen the final version of this guitar yet, and it was to be a special occasion.
Later that evening, I got ready for the show - I remember I was wearing my Anthrax "Band In Flames" shirt, bluejeans and my BLS baseball cap. I left my house at about 5:30 PM and headed on my way towards Columbus.
I arrived at the Alrosa around 6:30, parked my sister's car, and decided to leave the L.I.E. CD in the car, as I figured I'd run out and get it if I had the chance to give it to Dime. I walked through the parking lot and encountered a couple of other fans, and began a conversation with them about how the show was going to be a good time, etc. We waited in line until the doors opened.
I got to the ticket booth, paid my $8, and got my hand stamped. Unfortunately they did not give away ticket stubs if you paid at the door - so I didn't have one to add to my collection. I got inside the venue and walked around a bit. I remember I met a guy named Justin who was wearing Black Label Society back patches, so I struck up a conversation with him. I told him that I run the website SDMFworldwide.com and asked him if he has heard of it - and as it turned out, he was a registered member of our message boards (username 'fatboy757')
I talked with Justin and his friend (can't remember his name) for what seemed like hours. The day before, on December 7th, Black Label Society had announced that they had signed with Artemis Records and that their next album "Mafia" would be released in March. So we discussed that, among many other things. We stood back by the restrooms and pool tables for the majority of the night, as we weren't really into the opening bands.
A guy named Geno Hardin, also wearing the BLS patches, was walking around with backstage passes. I recognized him from somewhere but I wasn't sure where, but he remembered who I was. We had met a few months earlier at Ozzfest, and he had told me that he "does promotion for BLS." I was pretty skeptical of what he had to say, as I knew a lot of people who worked for the band at the time (and he wasn't one of them). But nonetheless, he did have some cool double-sided BLS posters. He gave me a poster of Alcohol Fueled Brewtality (the live album from 3 years earlier), and he gave one of the other guys I was standing with a Hangover Music Vol. VI poster. I ended up trading posters (and I still have the Hangover Music one on my wall). We actually posed for a few photos holding the posters (before we traded).
I remember that there was supposed to be a few more opening bands but one or two of them didn't show up. I know that one of the bands that did end up playing was called Volume Dealer, and another was called Position 6 (which ironically, had Michael "Stakey" Stakes singing, who was the singer of the first band I ever recorded - but I did not know that at the time and didn't recognize him - I found out he was there several years after the fact). Honestly neither of these bands really impressed me too much that night - though I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to be fair to them. I am usually not a fan of local openers. So I stood back and waited and talked.
I went outside the patio door at least twice that night. There was a foreign guy with a food kart serving Gyros. The food cart was positioned on the outside of the gate on the patio door (which was right by the entrance), with the owner of the cart standing on the inside of the patio. I bought two Gyros from him at different times that night, I remember them being excellent. People were outside eating and smoking cigarettes. It was pretty warm out for December (I didn't even wear a coat or jacket), but I do remember wishing that they'd close the patio door several times because it was beginning to get cold back by the restrooms where I stood most of the night. I do remember that there was a chair propping the door open. Keep in mind, the patio on the other side of this door is surrounded by a 6 or 7 foot high fence. The only open gate was blocked by a gigantic food cart.
Several times throughout the night there were announcements made from the stage. Rick Cautella, the owner of the Alrosa, was always really proud that Pantera had played there twelve years earlier, around the time Vulgar Display Of Power came out. He announced that if anyone in the crowd happened to be at the show Pantera played there twelve years ago, that he'd love to speak with them about it. They announced upcoming shows, such as 3 Inches Of Blood and Hatebreed.
I remember about 10 or 15 minutes before Damageplan prepared to hit the stage, Vinnie Paul's drum tech John "Kat" Brooks, and singer Pat Lachman (wearing a hooded sweatshirt, so nobody would recognize him) showed up and stood right in front of where I stood most of the night, hanging out by the pool tables and restroom. I talked to Kat for a minute or two, because I had recognized him from the old Pantera home videos. Then not long after that, those guys disappeared and went outside to go get ready.
I remember that before Damageplan hit the stage, Corrosion Of Conformity's album "Deliverance" was playing over the P.A. system. At some point, during the song "Senor Limpio" if I remember correctly, the CD started skipping, and so they put on a different CD.
We all started to make our way to the floor in front of the stage at this point. I was standing right in the middle of the floor, about 3 or 4 people back. I remember that some of the people in the crowd were a bit rowdy and drunk, and began to mosh and push people around even though there was no band playing. I laughed at that, and realized that the poster I had in my hand was going to get all crinkled up.
I stood there for a few minutes, and a big guy wearing a kilt, who later I found out was Jeffery "Mayhem" Thompson, Damageplan's head of security, began filming the crowd from behind the drums and amplifiers. An announcement came over the P.A. for someone to move a white car - that it was blocking the stage door area, and the opening bands needed to be able to move some gear out. They said the show would not start until they moved their car, and that they'd be allowed back into the show.
So a few minutes later, at around 10:15 PM, Mayhem made his way to the middle of the stage, and announced "Ladies & Gentlemen - DAMAGE PLAN!".
The band came out, busting into the song "Breathing New Life" - the sound was still being adjusted slightly. I decided that I didn't feel like dealing with the crowd right away with the poster in my hand, so during the first few seconds of the song, I made my way to the raised area on Dimebag's side of the stage - the area that has all of the tables and chairs for people who are sitting there drinking. I was about 20 feet from Dimebag, looking straight at him. I remember him turning around at least once and I saw the Dean Guitars wing logo on the back of his vest. He turned back around and picked up the microphone stand in front of him with one hand, while still either fretting or picking with the other hand (I can't remember which arm he used to move the stand), and moved it back behind the P.A. speakers, out of my view, and out of his way. The band was really jamming, Vinnie was going at it full force on the drums, and I was really focusing on the sound of Dime's new Krank amps, curious as to how they sounded. Dimebag looked over at the crowd in my area, with a big smile on his face, and everyone held up their arms. I held up my poster, tightly rolled up into a tube, pointing it towards the sky.
As all this was going on, in a flash, I noticed a really big guy moving quickly, standing center stage. I realized he was holding a silver handgun, running towards Dimebag with his arm extended. And I heard small popping noises that sounded like a cap gun. Everything was a blur after this. It all happened so incredibly fast, it didn't register in my mind as to what was going on. I do remember one or two guys chasing him onto the stage, and someone putting someone in a headlock, or attempting to. Dimebag fell to the ground quickly after the first four or five shots (which were all relatively immediate).
At this point - only seconds had gone by and I had no idea what was going on. Pat Lachman and bassist Bobzilla were nowhere to be seen onstage. There was smoke from the dry ice machine engulfing the area around the drums, so I wasn't sure if Vinnie Paul was still onstage. Then the thoughts began to race through my head.
The music had stopped, it was nothing but colossal, horrendus sounding feedback. The gunfire had ceased. For a moment, I thought that this was all a big prank. Then I realized that I had seen people tackle the guy, so I began to think "wait a minute, it wasn't a prank. Some idiot with a cap gun just interrupted the show. They'll get his ass off the stage, kick him out, and the band will laugh it off and start the show again."
But then I noticed that nobody was onstage anymore (from my viewing angle). There was one more lone gunshot, and someone ducked down in front of me.
I then began to think "holy shit, this is real!"
Someone yelled "Somebody Dial 911" over the PA.
I made my way past the merchandise stand (which was selling shirts for only $10, by the way, as it was almost the end of the tour and they wanted to get rid of as many as possible. I had originally planned to buy one at the end of the night). I ran through the venue, towards the restrooms. Yelling at people as I went "holy shit, it's real. Someone has a gun, they're shooting the band. They shot Dimebag" - and I remember nobody at the back of the venue believed me. They resumed their games of pool and looked at me as if I was insane.
I got out of the patio door, and Rick Cautella, the owner (or maybe his brother), was dialing 9/11 on his cell phone. I remember he asked me and anyone else standing around (though not many people had made their way out of the venue yet, as some people didn't realize what was happening or that it wasn't "part of the show") if anyone has a description of the gunman or gunmen. I just blurted out something like "I just saw purple and green stripes - like he was wearing a shirt overtop of another shirt." (turned out later he was wearing a Columbus Blue Jackets jersey with a greenish hooded sweatshirt over it). Rick then said "shit, my call didn't go through" - and right as he said that - I heard police sirens. The food cart guy then pushed his cart away from the edge of the gate so that people could walk past it. I walked past it, around the building, and towards my sister's car. I remember hearing more gunshots as I was outside. Some police officers ran past me and cars began to arrive in the parking lot. I was completely in shock. I didn't know what to think. All of this happened, from the moment the band took the stage, until the shooting stopped, in less than 5 minutes.
I walked up to a person who was using a cell phone (I didn't have one at the time), and asked him if I could borrow it. That person turned out to go by the nickname "Chunk" - I ran into him again a day before the one year anniversary of this horrible night, at a Sevendust concert, and we recognized each other immediately, even though we had only talked briefly an entire year before.
I called my friend Shawn Sexton, who runs SDMFworldwide.com with me. He's one of the people whose phone numbers I had written down in my wallet. I told him "Hey Shawn. This is Deege, I'm at Damageplan in Columbus and some guy ran onstage and starting shooting at the band. He shot Dimebag." He thought I was telling some sick joke, and I was like "I am serious man. I am freaking out" And he asked me "is everyone ok? Is he still alive?" - and at that point, my heart sank. I never really thought of the fact that Dimebag could be dead before this moment. I started to process what exactly I had just seen. I then muttered something to the effect of "well, he shot him 5 or 6 times."
Not wanting to believe my own thoughts, I remembered that several people had chased the gunman onstage, and I saw someone knock the gunman's arm out of aim once when trying to stop him. But then I finished my thoughts aloud - "but he was so close to him. Man, I don't know what to say, but I think Dimebag is dead. There's no way he could have survived that."
I told Shawn to call as many people in the Zakk Wylde camp as he could. I told him to call Chad Lee or Chad Dyer, as I know they were supposed to meet up with the band the next night in Michigan. I told him to call Zakk or Barb Wylde, Nick Catanese, or Zakk's guitar tech Fred Kowalo. Anyone he could get ahold of. Let them know what's going on, break the bad news. I didn't want anyone hearing about this shit on the news before they heard it from a friend.
At this point, I was wandering around the parking lot in shock. I talked to several other fans out there. I told one kid that I think Dimebag is dead. He started bawling. I stood there, not knowing what to do. I felt bad that I wasn't crying as well, after what I just saw. It made me feel like I wasn't human or something. But I couldn't cry.
I called my aunt Cheryl from Chunk's cell phone as well, after borrowing it a second time. I told her what was going on. Talked for a minute. She called Kellie, Phil Ondich's wife, and talked to her on her other phone at the same time she was talking to me, relaying the news. I told her I'd call back later.
There were more police cars and ambulances gathered in the parking lot than I had ever seen in once place before. And SWAT vehicles. They had the place entirely surrounded in minutes. There was even a helicopter flying overhead shining a spotlight on the ground. There were police searching the entire parking lot and grounds and woods around the building.
About 6 police officers with shotguns carried a guy out of the woods behind the building and put him into a police cruiser. Nobody knew what to think of that - but months later, after hearing no mention of that person getting arrested, I found out that it was just a homeless man that was walking down the railroad tracks behind the venue - and that he had nothing to do with the shooting - he was just curious what was happening.
Police Officers urged everyone to stay standing by their vehicles, but everyone wandered around the parking lot anyway. It wasn't that we were being subordinate or not following rules - it was just a wierd feeling of not being able to say put. I had to walk around, pace back and forth, ask others if they knew any more information, etc. People started talking to each other in the parking lot. Rumors began to run rampant. Some people said that more band members were dead. I asked one of the cops if they caught the shooter and he told me that the shooter was dead.
I saw them take a few people out of the building on stretchers and put them into ambulances. The band's tour manager Chris was leaning on a car in the parking lot, with gunshot wounds. I think he stayed put for quite awhile before anyone realized he had been shot. He was eventually treated as well, but was in the hospital for several weeks. I saw Vinnie Paul and BobZilla near the tour bus once. I hadn't seen Pat Lachman at all in the parking lot that night.
Something after this, I decided to leave, and I started my sister's car and started to leave, only to realize that none of the cars lined up to leave were allowed to leave the parking lot. So I parked in a different spot, a little bit closer to the building, and got back out of the car.
Geno Hardin, who I talked to later that night, talked to me a few times in the parking lot. He confirmed to me that Dimebag was definatly dead. He told me that he tried to give CPR and wanted me to give Barb Wylde his phone number. I didn't have the number on me, though. Later on, I realized that this guy's story was totally bogus, because anyone who had tried to help the victims had blood all over their clothes, and this guy was as clean as it gets. For someone to make up a more significant role for themselves during such an awful night is one of the shittiest things I've ever heard of someone doing. But whatever.
Anyway, after hours, the investigators and police offers had COTA busses brought in for the 300 some witnesses to pile onto to stay out of the cold, while waiting to be interviewed by a detective. Apparently they had to call in a lot of other detectives from other areas and departments because they had so many witnesses to interview. On the COTA bus, I sat next to a guy named Butch, who just so happened to be one of Phil Ondich's childhood friends. We struck up a conversation about that, and I used his cell phone to call my aunt Cheryl again. I told her that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to drive my sister's car home because it was a part of the crime scene and they might not let our vehicles leave that night. I also wasn't sure if I'd be able to drive that far after everything that happened. She told me that if I needed someone to drive me home, that my cousins Mike and Brandon would drive down together and one of them would drive Lindsay's car back.
The atmosphere on the bus was nuts. Some people crying, some people looked like zombies, some people complaining that they needed to get home to sleep, as they had to work early in the morning. One guy had blood all over his sweatshirt and was worried about one of his friends who he hadn't seen since he jumped onstage (later found out that it must have been Nathan Bray's friend). A few people even got into a huge fight/argument about something stupid that ended when someone yelled "Don't you guys realize that PEOPLE ARE DEAD!?"
Finally around 3 AM, I was interviewed by a Columbus Homicide detective, and he gave me a card so that I could get out of the parking lot. The entire road was blocked off and I had to turn left to leave the parking lot, instead of right, and go a different way home.
I stopped at a gas station down the road - just because I needed to get some air. There were news crews interviewing people at the gas station. There was a guy with bluejeans on that looked to be soaked in motor oil and a knee was ripped open really big. He was using a pay phone. He walked past me, into the store. I used the same pay phone to call my cousin Mike and tell him that I was going to drive myself home. Later on, I saw that same guy from the gas station on TV being interviewed, and I realized that it wasn't oil on his pants, it was blood. He was one of the people who dragged Dimebag off of the stage and tried to give CPR.
I stopped at several gas stations on the way home - just because I couldn't drive anymore. I got home at about 4 AM. I sat on my front porch for a few minutes...just sitting there starting up at the stars. I went inside. I sat down at my computer chair. But I didn't even use the computer, I just stared at the screen.
My cousins Mike and Brandon showed up a few minutes later. I turned on the TV in the living room and waited on the news. I remember listening to "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera, but I couldn't get through the whole song.
Over the course of the morning, more and more details came in, every website was reporting it. The next few days were a blur. I talked to some people on the phone - people I hadn't talked to in years called me up because they somehow had heard I was there. I might have slept an hour here or there, but I didn't sleep for about 4 days.
The details were really cloudy for a few days. Nobody knew who had died. People thought that Chris, the tour manager had died - but he was actually in the hospital for a week or two, with serious chest bullet wounds. Kat, the drum tech, was held hostage by the gunman and shot in the hand, leg, and a few other places. For awhile, people had said it was Vinnie who was injured, but it turned out to be Kat. People had thought, and several news broadcasts and articles had reported that another band member had died, but nobody knew who.
Days had gone by. I wasn't tired. I wasn't hungry. I forced myself to drive into town and get myself a sandwich at Subway after about 2 or 3 days. I ran into a friend from high school at Wal-mart and I asked her if she had heard what had happened last night. I told her about what had happened and she told me "yeah - I heard about that about 2 days ago." - I then realized how much time had passed without getting any sleep. It all seemed like one long day to me.
After all of the details were said and done, five people were dead. guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, the band's head of security Jeffery "Mayhem" Thompson, who was shot while wrestling with the gunman trying to disarm him, Alrosa Villa employee Erin Halk, who also engaged the gunman before being shot 6 times in the chest, and a fan from the crowd, Nathan Bray, who jumped up onstage and tried to give Dimebag and Mayhem CPR. He was shot a single time in the chest by the gunman, and passed away in an ambulance on his way to the hospital.
Plus, the gunman himself, Nathan Gale, was the final death (one that was actually deserved) - Columbus Police Officer James Niggemeyer managed to end the carnage with a single shotgun blast to his head.
It was all over the news that Nathan Gale had yelled something about Pantera breaking up before he killed Dimebag. Some fan who wanted to be on TV said that to a reporter. But that never happened - the band were playing when the shooting began - and it would have been too loud to hear the person next to you speak, let alone the killer. Plus it all happened so fast, he didn't have time to say anything. So, the motive that everyone still assumes to this day that this psycho was upset over the breakup of Pantera is completely unfounded and wrong.
Nathan Gale was a paranoid schitzophrenic, and thought that the band could read his thoughts and laughed at him. Of course, in reality he had never really met them.
Eight months earlier, at Bogart's in Cincinatti, while Damageplan was playing, Nathan Gale had jumped onstage, without a gun, and rushed towards Dimebag Darrell. Security quickly grabbed him. He grabbed onto stage gear and wouldn't let go. He caused about 2 grand in damage to some lighting equipment. The security proceeded to beat the living hell out of him, kick him out, and throw him down a flight of stairs. So, in addition to being mentally unstable, he was probably stewing in anger for 8 months.
Gale was arrested, but nobody wanted to press charges since the band (and the company that the damaged equipment was rented from) were from Texas, they didn't want to have to come back to Ohio for some smalltime lawsuit. So, people forgot all about that event and went about their lives for the next 8 months.
In the weeks after the shooting, I couldn't believe the outpouring of support and mourning over the loss of Dimebag Darrell. Every band's website that I went to at the time had tributes or mentions of his tragic demise. Unfortunatly, at this time, nobody knew anything about the other 3, non-famous people who lost their lives - Nathan Bray, Erin Halk, and Jeffery Thompson. We should never forget about their heroic actions and their ultimate sacrifice in trying to stop this psychopath from killing more people. And of course, we should all thank Officer Niggemeyer for doing what he had to do to put an end to the situation. Apparently, the gunman had 35 rounds of ammunition left (after firing 14, and ejecting one jammed round). Nobody knows how many more people would have been lost had James not intervened - but I am sure that he saved countless lives with his heroic actions. Even though I never met the people who were killed that night, I will never forget their sacrifice - and whenever I think back to that day, I will be reminded that there are good people in this world, however fucked up it may be.
Rest In Peace Dimebag, Mayhem, Erin, and Nate!
December 8th, 2004 started out like any normal day for me. I went to Upper Sandusky, Ohio to Time Services in order to take a drug test and apply for a temporary job at Mansfield Brass & Aluminum in New Washington, Ohio. After filling out all of the paper work and taking the drug test, I drove all the way to New Washington in order to take a tour of the factory. I decided pretty quickly that the job wasn't for me, due to having to carry large buckets of molten metal...something I'd probably be rather clumsy at. Seemed a bit dangerous for me, so I decided I didn't want the job. I was using my little sister Lindsay's car that day, because my van was having brake problems.
Later that night, I was planning to go see Damageplan at the Alrosa Villa, in Columbus, Ohio, with my cousin Mike. When I got ahold of Mike, he was sleeping and he didn't feel like going. We are both huge Pantera fans, but he didn't really dig the Damageplan album very much. I was quick to point out that it was only $8 for a ticket (neither of us had one, we were going to pay at the door), and $8 is an amazing price to see Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul from Pantera jamming at such a small club. But he decided he wasn't going and there was no changing his mind.
I talked online with a few friends from local bands that I recorded, and all of them had plans and couldn't go with me. So I decided I was going to head to the show by myself. I thought it was insane that I couldn't find a single person willing to spend $8 to see Dimebag & Vinnie jamming at the Alrosa. On AOL Instant Messenger, I talked to my friend Tim Lyons from the Kansas City band L.I.E., and told him I was going to go see Damageplan later that night, and I told him that I would burn a compilation CD of L.I.E. tunes to give to Dimebag. I thought I'd surely get to meet and hang out with him for a few, as he was universally known as one of the most fan-friendly musicians in all of heavy metal. My friend Phil Ondich, who is the original drummer in Black Label Society (who got the chance to hang out with Pantera in Japan in June of 2000) actually happened to guest on one of the L.I.E. tunes, so I figured Dimebag might enjoy hearing it, as he was of course a big fan of BLS. So I burned the CD of L.I.E. tunes, put it into a paper slipcase, and wrote the track names and information on it, and at the top I wrote "Dime" and underlined it.
I also talked to Chad Lee, the photographer who toured with Damageplan several times and was really good friends with them. He told me that he and Chad Dyer, then the webmaster of ZakkWylde.com were meeting with Dean Zelinsky of Dean Guitars the next day, picking up Dimebag's new finished "Razorback" guitar, and taking it to the show that was to take place on December 9th in Flint, Michigan (the final scheduled show of the tour) for a photoshoot. Dimebag hadn't yet seen the final version of this guitar yet, and it was to be a special occasion.
Later that evening, I got ready for the show - I remember I was wearing my Anthrax "Band In Flames" shirt, bluejeans and my BLS baseball cap. I left my house at about 5:30 PM and headed on my way towards Columbus.
I arrived at the Alrosa around 6:30, parked my sister's car, and decided to leave the L.I.E. CD in the car, as I figured I'd run out and get it if I had the chance to give it to Dime. I walked through the parking lot and encountered a couple of other fans, and began a conversation with them about how the show was going to be a good time, etc. We waited in line until the doors opened.
I got to the ticket booth, paid my $8, and got my hand stamped. Unfortunately they did not give away ticket stubs if you paid at the door - so I didn't have one to add to my collection. I got inside the venue and walked around a bit. I remember I met a guy named Justin who was wearing Black Label Society back patches, so I struck up a conversation with him. I told him that I run the website SDMFworldwide.com and asked him if he has heard of it - and as it turned out, he was a registered member of our message boards (username 'fatboy757')
I talked with Justin and his friend (can't remember his name) for what seemed like hours. The day before, on December 7th, Black Label Society had announced that they had signed with Artemis Records and that their next album "Mafia" would be released in March. So we discussed that, among many other things. We stood back by the restrooms and pool tables for the majority of the night, as we weren't really into the opening bands.
A guy named Geno Hardin, also wearing the BLS patches, was walking around with backstage passes. I recognized him from somewhere but I wasn't sure where, but he remembered who I was. We had met a few months earlier at Ozzfest, and he had told me that he "does promotion for BLS." I was pretty skeptical of what he had to say, as I knew a lot of people who worked for the band at the time (and he wasn't one of them). But nonetheless, he did have some cool double-sided BLS posters. He gave me a poster of Alcohol Fueled Brewtality (the live album from 3 years earlier), and he gave one of the other guys I was standing with a Hangover Music Vol. VI poster. I ended up trading posters (and I still have the Hangover Music one on my wall). We actually posed for a few photos holding the posters (before we traded).
I remember that there was supposed to be a few more opening bands but one or two of them didn't show up. I know that one of the bands that did end up playing was called Volume Dealer, and another was called Position 6 (which ironically, had Michael "Stakey" Stakes singing, who was the singer of the first band I ever recorded - but I did not know that at the time and didn't recognize him - I found out he was there several years after the fact). Honestly neither of these bands really impressed me too much that night - though I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to be fair to them. I am usually not a fan of local openers. So I stood back and waited and talked.
I went outside the patio door at least twice that night. There was a foreign guy with a food kart serving Gyros. The food cart was positioned on the outside of the gate on the patio door (which was right by the entrance), with the owner of the cart standing on the inside of the patio. I bought two Gyros from him at different times that night, I remember them being excellent. People were outside eating and smoking cigarettes. It was pretty warm out for December (I didn't even wear a coat or jacket), but I do remember wishing that they'd close the patio door several times because it was beginning to get cold back by the restrooms where I stood most of the night. I do remember that there was a chair propping the door open. Keep in mind, the patio on the other side of this door is surrounded by a 6 or 7 foot high fence. The only open gate was blocked by a gigantic food cart.
Several times throughout the night there were announcements made from the stage. Rick Cautella, the owner of the Alrosa, was always really proud that Pantera had played there twelve years earlier, around the time Vulgar Display Of Power came out. He announced that if anyone in the crowd happened to be at the show Pantera played there twelve years ago, that he'd love to speak with them about it. They announced upcoming shows, such as 3 Inches Of Blood and Hatebreed.
I remember about 10 or 15 minutes before Damageplan prepared to hit the stage, Vinnie Paul's drum tech John "Kat" Brooks, and singer Pat Lachman (wearing a hooded sweatshirt, so nobody would recognize him) showed up and stood right in front of where I stood most of the night, hanging out by the pool tables and restroom. I talked to Kat for a minute or two, because I had recognized him from the old Pantera home videos. Then not long after that, those guys disappeared and went outside to go get ready.
I remember that before Damageplan hit the stage, Corrosion Of Conformity's album "Deliverance" was playing over the P.A. system. At some point, during the song "Senor Limpio" if I remember correctly, the CD started skipping, and so they put on a different CD.
We all started to make our way to the floor in front of the stage at this point. I was standing right in the middle of the floor, about 3 or 4 people back. I remember that some of the people in the crowd were a bit rowdy and drunk, and began to mosh and push people around even though there was no band playing. I laughed at that, and realized that the poster I had in my hand was going to get all crinkled up.
I stood there for a few minutes, and a big guy wearing a kilt, who later I found out was Jeffery "Mayhem" Thompson, Damageplan's head of security, began filming the crowd from behind the drums and amplifiers. An announcement came over the P.A. for someone to move a white car - that it was blocking the stage door area, and the opening bands needed to be able to move some gear out. They said the show would not start until they moved their car, and that they'd be allowed back into the show.
So a few minutes later, at around 10:15 PM, Mayhem made his way to the middle of the stage, and announced "Ladies & Gentlemen - DAMAGE PLAN!".
The band came out, busting into the song "Breathing New Life" - the sound was still being adjusted slightly. I decided that I didn't feel like dealing with the crowd right away with the poster in my hand, so during the first few seconds of the song, I made my way to the raised area on Dimebag's side of the stage - the area that has all of the tables and chairs for people who are sitting there drinking. I was about 20 feet from Dimebag, looking straight at him. I remember him turning around at least once and I saw the Dean Guitars wing logo on the back of his vest. He turned back around and picked up the microphone stand in front of him with one hand, while still either fretting or picking with the other hand (I can't remember which arm he used to move the stand), and moved it back behind the P.A. speakers, out of my view, and out of his way. The band was really jamming, Vinnie was going at it full force on the drums, and I was really focusing on the sound of Dime's new Krank amps, curious as to how they sounded. Dimebag looked over at the crowd in my area, with a big smile on his face, and everyone held up their arms. I held up my poster, tightly rolled up into a tube, pointing it towards the sky.
As all this was going on, in a flash, I noticed a really big guy moving quickly, standing center stage. I realized he was holding a silver handgun, running towards Dimebag with his arm extended. And I heard small popping noises that sounded like a cap gun. Everything was a blur after this. It all happened so incredibly fast, it didn't register in my mind as to what was going on. I do remember one or two guys chasing him onto the stage, and someone putting someone in a headlock, or attempting to. Dimebag fell to the ground quickly after the first four or five shots (which were all relatively immediate).
At this point - only seconds had gone by and I had no idea what was going on. Pat Lachman and bassist Bobzilla were nowhere to be seen onstage. There was smoke from the dry ice machine engulfing the area around the drums, so I wasn't sure if Vinnie Paul was still onstage. Then the thoughts began to race through my head.
The music had stopped, it was nothing but colossal, horrendus sounding feedback. The gunfire had ceased. For a moment, I thought that this was all a big prank. Then I realized that I had seen people tackle the guy, so I began to think "wait a minute, it wasn't a prank. Some idiot with a cap gun just interrupted the show. They'll get his ass off the stage, kick him out, and the band will laugh it off and start the show again."
But then I noticed that nobody was onstage anymore (from my viewing angle). There was one more lone gunshot, and someone ducked down in front of me.
I then began to think "holy shit, this is real!"
Someone yelled "Somebody Dial 911" over the PA.
I made my way past the merchandise stand (which was selling shirts for only $10, by the way, as it was almost the end of the tour and they wanted to get rid of as many as possible. I had originally planned to buy one at the end of the night). I ran through the venue, towards the restrooms. Yelling at people as I went "holy shit, it's real. Someone has a gun, they're shooting the band. They shot Dimebag" - and I remember nobody at the back of the venue believed me. They resumed their games of pool and looked at me as if I was insane.
I got out of the patio door, and Rick Cautella, the owner (or maybe his brother), was dialing 9/11 on his cell phone. I remember he asked me and anyone else standing around (though not many people had made their way out of the venue yet, as some people didn't realize what was happening or that it wasn't "part of the show") if anyone has a description of the gunman or gunmen. I just blurted out something like "I just saw purple and green stripes - like he was wearing a shirt overtop of another shirt." (turned out later he was wearing a Columbus Blue Jackets jersey with a greenish hooded sweatshirt over it). Rick then said "shit, my call didn't go through" - and right as he said that - I heard police sirens. The food cart guy then pushed his cart away from the edge of the gate so that people could walk past it. I walked past it, around the building, and towards my sister's car. I remember hearing more gunshots as I was outside. Some police officers ran past me and cars began to arrive in the parking lot. I was completely in shock. I didn't know what to think. All of this happened, from the moment the band took the stage, until the shooting stopped, in less than 5 minutes.
I walked up to a person who was using a cell phone (I didn't have one at the time), and asked him if I could borrow it. That person turned out to go by the nickname "Chunk" - I ran into him again a day before the one year anniversary of this horrible night, at a Sevendust concert, and we recognized each other immediately, even though we had only talked briefly an entire year before.
I called my friend Shawn Sexton, who runs SDMFworldwide.com with me. He's one of the people whose phone numbers I had written down in my wallet. I told him "Hey Shawn. This is Deege, I'm at Damageplan in Columbus and some guy ran onstage and starting shooting at the band. He shot Dimebag." He thought I was telling some sick joke, and I was like "I am serious man. I am freaking out" And he asked me "is everyone ok? Is he still alive?" - and at that point, my heart sank. I never really thought of the fact that Dimebag could be dead before this moment. I started to process what exactly I had just seen. I then muttered something to the effect of "well, he shot him 5 or 6 times."
Not wanting to believe my own thoughts, I remembered that several people had chased the gunman onstage, and I saw someone knock the gunman's arm out of aim once when trying to stop him. But then I finished my thoughts aloud - "but he was so close to him. Man, I don't know what to say, but I think Dimebag is dead. There's no way he could have survived that."
I told Shawn to call as many people in the Zakk Wylde camp as he could. I told him to call Chad Lee or Chad Dyer, as I know they were supposed to meet up with the band the next night in Michigan. I told him to call Zakk or Barb Wylde, Nick Catanese, or Zakk's guitar tech Fred Kowalo. Anyone he could get ahold of. Let them know what's going on, break the bad news. I didn't want anyone hearing about this shit on the news before they heard it from a friend.
At this point, I was wandering around the parking lot in shock. I talked to several other fans out there. I told one kid that I think Dimebag is dead. He started bawling. I stood there, not knowing what to do. I felt bad that I wasn't crying as well, after what I just saw. It made me feel like I wasn't human or something. But I couldn't cry.
I called my aunt Cheryl from Chunk's cell phone as well, after borrowing it a second time. I told her what was going on. Talked for a minute. She called Kellie, Phil Ondich's wife, and talked to her on her other phone at the same time she was talking to me, relaying the news. I told her I'd call back later.
There were more police cars and ambulances gathered in the parking lot than I had ever seen in once place before. And SWAT vehicles. They had the place entirely surrounded in minutes. There was even a helicopter flying overhead shining a spotlight on the ground. There were police searching the entire parking lot and grounds and woods around the building.
About 6 police officers with shotguns carried a guy out of the woods behind the building and put him into a police cruiser. Nobody knew what to think of that - but months later, after hearing no mention of that person getting arrested, I found out that it was just a homeless man that was walking down the railroad tracks behind the venue - and that he had nothing to do with the shooting - he was just curious what was happening.
Police Officers urged everyone to stay standing by their vehicles, but everyone wandered around the parking lot anyway. It wasn't that we were being subordinate or not following rules - it was just a wierd feeling of not being able to say put. I had to walk around, pace back and forth, ask others if they knew any more information, etc. People started talking to each other in the parking lot. Rumors began to run rampant. Some people said that more band members were dead. I asked one of the cops if they caught the shooter and he told me that the shooter was dead.
I saw them take a few people out of the building on stretchers and put them into ambulances. The band's tour manager Chris was leaning on a car in the parking lot, with gunshot wounds. I think he stayed put for quite awhile before anyone realized he had been shot. He was eventually treated as well, but was in the hospital for several weeks. I saw Vinnie Paul and BobZilla near the tour bus once. I hadn't seen Pat Lachman at all in the parking lot that night.
Something after this, I decided to leave, and I started my sister's car and started to leave, only to realize that none of the cars lined up to leave were allowed to leave the parking lot. So I parked in a different spot, a little bit closer to the building, and got back out of the car.
Geno Hardin, who I talked to later that night, talked to me a few times in the parking lot. He confirmed to me that Dimebag was definatly dead. He told me that he tried to give CPR and wanted me to give Barb Wylde his phone number. I didn't have the number on me, though. Later on, I realized that this guy's story was totally bogus, because anyone who had tried to help the victims had blood all over their clothes, and this guy was as clean as it gets. For someone to make up a more significant role for themselves during such an awful night is one of the shittiest things I've ever heard of someone doing. But whatever.
Anyway, after hours, the investigators and police offers had COTA busses brought in for the 300 some witnesses to pile onto to stay out of the cold, while waiting to be interviewed by a detective. Apparently they had to call in a lot of other detectives from other areas and departments because they had so many witnesses to interview. On the COTA bus, I sat next to a guy named Butch, who just so happened to be one of Phil Ondich's childhood friends. We struck up a conversation about that, and I used his cell phone to call my aunt Cheryl again. I told her that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to drive my sister's car home because it was a part of the crime scene and they might not let our vehicles leave that night. I also wasn't sure if I'd be able to drive that far after everything that happened. She told me that if I needed someone to drive me home, that my cousins Mike and Brandon would drive down together and one of them would drive Lindsay's car back.
The atmosphere on the bus was nuts. Some people crying, some people looked like zombies, some people complaining that they needed to get home to sleep, as they had to work early in the morning. One guy had blood all over his sweatshirt and was worried about one of his friends who he hadn't seen since he jumped onstage (later found out that it must have been Nathan Bray's friend). A few people even got into a huge fight/argument about something stupid that ended when someone yelled "Don't you guys realize that PEOPLE ARE DEAD!?"
Finally around 3 AM, I was interviewed by a Columbus Homicide detective, and he gave me a card so that I could get out of the parking lot. The entire road was blocked off and I had to turn left to leave the parking lot, instead of right, and go a different way home.
I stopped at a gas station down the road - just because I needed to get some air. There were news crews interviewing people at the gas station. There was a guy with bluejeans on that looked to be soaked in motor oil and a knee was ripped open really big. He was using a pay phone. He walked past me, into the store. I used the same pay phone to call my cousin Mike and tell him that I was going to drive myself home. Later on, I saw that same guy from the gas station on TV being interviewed, and I realized that it wasn't oil on his pants, it was blood. He was one of the people who dragged Dimebag off of the stage and tried to give CPR.
I stopped at several gas stations on the way home - just because I couldn't drive anymore. I got home at about 4 AM. I sat on my front porch for a few minutes...just sitting there starting up at the stars. I went inside. I sat down at my computer chair. But I didn't even use the computer, I just stared at the screen.
My cousins Mike and Brandon showed up a few minutes later. I turned on the TV in the living room and waited on the news. I remember listening to "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera, but I couldn't get through the whole song.
Over the course of the morning, more and more details came in, every website was reporting it. The next few days were a blur. I talked to some people on the phone - people I hadn't talked to in years called me up because they somehow had heard I was there. I might have slept an hour here or there, but I didn't sleep for about 4 days.
The details were really cloudy for a few days. Nobody knew who had died. People thought that Chris, the tour manager had died - but he was actually in the hospital for a week or two, with serious chest bullet wounds. Kat, the drum tech, was held hostage by the gunman and shot in the hand, leg, and a few other places. For awhile, people had said it was Vinnie who was injured, but it turned out to be Kat. People had thought, and several news broadcasts and articles had reported that another band member had died, but nobody knew who.
Days had gone by. I wasn't tired. I wasn't hungry. I forced myself to drive into town and get myself a sandwich at Subway after about 2 or 3 days. I ran into a friend from high school at Wal-mart and I asked her if she had heard what had happened last night. I told her about what had happened and she told me "yeah - I heard about that about 2 days ago." - I then realized how much time had passed without getting any sleep. It all seemed like one long day to me.
After all of the details were said and done, five people were dead. guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, the band's head of security Jeffery "Mayhem" Thompson, who was shot while wrestling with the gunman trying to disarm him, Alrosa Villa employee Erin Halk, who also engaged the gunman before being shot 6 times in the chest, and a fan from the crowd, Nathan Bray, who jumped up onstage and tried to give Dimebag and Mayhem CPR. He was shot a single time in the chest by the gunman, and passed away in an ambulance on his way to the hospital.
Plus, the gunman himself, Nathan Gale, was the final death (one that was actually deserved) - Columbus Police Officer James Niggemeyer managed to end the carnage with a single shotgun blast to his head.
It was all over the news that Nathan Gale had yelled something about Pantera breaking up before he killed Dimebag. Some fan who wanted to be on TV said that to a reporter. But that never happened - the band were playing when the shooting began - and it would have been too loud to hear the person next to you speak, let alone the killer. Plus it all happened so fast, he didn't have time to say anything. So, the motive that everyone still assumes to this day that this psycho was upset over the breakup of Pantera is completely unfounded and wrong.
Nathan Gale was a paranoid schitzophrenic, and thought that the band could read his thoughts and laughed at him. Of course, in reality he had never really met them.
Eight months earlier, at Bogart's in Cincinatti, while Damageplan was playing, Nathan Gale had jumped onstage, without a gun, and rushed towards Dimebag Darrell. Security quickly grabbed him. He grabbed onto stage gear and wouldn't let go. He caused about 2 grand in damage to some lighting equipment. The security proceeded to beat the living hell out of him, kick him out, and throw him down a flight of stairs. So, in addition to being mentally unstable, he was probably stewing in anger for 8 months.
Gale was arrested, but nobody wanted to press charges since the band (and the company that the damaged equipment was rented from) were from Texas, they didn't want to have to come back to Ohio for some smalltime lawsuit. So, people forgot all about that event and went about their lives for the next 8 months.
In the weeks after the shooting, I couldn't believe the outpouring of support and mourning over the loss of Dimebag Darrell. Every band's website that I went to at the time had tributes or mentions of his tragic demise. Unfortunatly, at this time, nobody knew anything about the other 3, non-famous people who lost their lives - Nathan Bray, Erin Halk, and Jeffery Thompson. We should never forget about their heroic actions and their ultimate sacrifice in trying to stop this psychopath from killing more people. And of course, we should all thank Officer Niggemeyer for doing what he had to do to put an end to the situation. Apparently, the gunman had 35 rounds of ammunition left (after firing 14, and ejecting one jammed round). Nobody knows how many more people would have been lost had James not intervened - but I am sure that he saved countless lives with his heroic actions. Even though I never met the people who were killed that night, I will never forget their sacrifice - and whenever I think back to that day, I will be reminded that there are good people in this world, however fucked up it may be.
Rest In Peace Dimebag, Mayhem, Erin, and Nate!
