three people injured, one dead at C.O.C. Concert

[mattt]

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY have posted the following message on their official web site:

"We are stunned deeply saddened by the brutal stabbings of three people at the Tampa show last night [June 23].

"We don't have much information at this time.

"Unofficially we have heard that one victim didn't make it.

"In twenty-plus years of gigging we've never seen anything like this.

"It's sad that people can't come together for a good time listening to music without something tragic happening.

"We feel for the families of those attacked and wish success to Tampa law enforcement in their quest to solve this pointless crime.

"Take care of each other and go in peace.

"Anyone who has any information or saw anything should contact the Tampa Police at 813-276-3200."

Nola Bradley of Extreme Metal Magazine has issued the following eyewitness account of last night's events:

"Wow... don't really know where to start. Just really kinda freaked out right now. I just got home from the Masquerade in Tampa, went to see C.O.C. and CROWBAR. The show was going great. I went up to the bathrooms. While I was in there, I heard all kinds of commotion. I came out of the bathroom to see what was going on and saw these two chicks fighting. Before I knew it, these two guys were trying to break up the fight. They were having to use serious restraint to get these girls off each other. At this time, one of the girls' boyfriend came running up, under the impression that these dudes were beating up these chicks, and the one guy grabbed his knife and gutted the two guys. In a matter of a second both guys were laying in their own blood. The stabber bolted for the door and ran away. Immediately Pepper [Keenan, C.O.C. frontman] came on the mic and asked everyone to clear a path and exit out the side doors. The venue was immediately swarmed with police, ambulance, and flying helicopters because the man in on the loose. Obviously, C.O.C. didnt get to finish their set. It was an extremely greusome scene and I can't get it out of my head. I was forced to give a statement to police since I was a direct witness. This is such a terrible thing. One of the men was rumored to be dead on the scene but nothing is official."

Update:Tampa police have issued a description of the suspect wanted in connection with the stabbings at the CORROSION OF CONFORMITY concert in Ybor City (Tampa), Florida Thursday night (June 23). The police are looking for a concert-goer fitting the following description: white male, 28-30 years old, 5'6"-5'8", approximately 150 pounds, muscular build, pale complexion, bald, long stringy reddish-brown goatee, tattoos. Was wearing a white tank top last night. If you have any information, please contact the Tampa Police Department at 813-276-3200.

Florida's WFLA-TV News Channel 8 is reporting that four people were stabbed at CORROSION OF CONFORMITY's show at the Masquerade club in Ybor City last night, one of them fatally. At the time of the report, they did not have any information on the status of the other three victims.

 

[Mark]

Holy shit

 

[Goreripper]

 

[Winmar]

What kind of loon takes a knife to a gig in the first place? God there are some fuckwits around, and now someone else has died as a result.

 

[TinMan666]

that's fucking messed up.

Sadly i think we're at the stage (over there at least, Australia will catch up soon enough) where we need to have metal detectors on the doors of venues. I've got mates who work the doors of pubs in Frankston who tell me there's certain guys that they know carry knives, and suspect that some carry guns, but obviously they're not going to confront them for fear of getting stabbed. And a lot of these guys are known scumbags / criminals who keep getting let off with a slap on the wrist whenever they actually get charged for anything... but I digress.

Hopefully they catch the pissweak piece of shit responsible for this and send him to electric chair.

 

[Spiff]

Don't they do pat-downs at gigs down there? They sure do up here at the Entertainment Centre (don't know about pubs and clubs, I don't go to those ones), for all except the oldies stuff. They were even searching little kids at the wrestling in April.

 

[Goreripper]

Looks like Dime's death taught nobody anything. I thought that, after that, venues were going to tighten up their security.


*PS: I'm aware that Dime's death wasn't really a lapse in security per se, but I do remember club owners going "We'll be making sure from now on that this sort of thing can't happen at our club". So I guess they're making sure that gun-toting nuts can't burst in through the backstage area, but doing nothing about knife-wielding slags in the crowd.

 

[Southy]

That is right fucked up. How does this sort of shit happen, at a gig like C.O.C's of all things.

 

[Cooperman]

I got patted down at Judas Priest last week. Jaxx in Virginia has a metal detector. I've been there a couple of times and the only time it was in use was for King Diamond. For that show I was patted down and metal detected but all the other shows I've been to the security is no different to anywhere in Australia. In fact I've noticed they tend to not have much security by the front of the stage - it would be pretty easy to get up on stage at a lot of the shows. The security seems more interested in crowd safety - especially since most shows here have circle pits, the security stands at the rear of the circle and keeps an eye on things.