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What a waste of a talented life...

Cincinnati's WCPO-TV has issued the following update on the shooting that occurred at the DAMAGEPLAN concert in Columbus, Ohio:

A man opened fire in a crowded nightclub during a rock concert Wednesday night, killing at least four people and wounding at least two others before he was shot to death by police, authorities said.

A man walked on stage during the show at the Alrosa Villa and opened fire on band members, killing four people and wounding at least two others, said Columbus police spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull, adding that more people could have been shot and left the scene before authorities arrived.

Mull said a police officer shot and killed the gunman. It wasn't immediately clear whether the officer was already at the show or had responded to an emergency call.

Columbus resident Chris Couch, 22, said the shooting occurred about 30 seconds after the show's headliner, DAMAGEPLAN, had begun playing.

Couch, who was standing about 30 feet away from the stage, noticed a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and hockey jersey walk up to the stage, followed by a bouncer and another club employee.

The man in the jersey climbed onto the stage, started yelling and shot the guitarist five or six times at close range, Couch said.

Couch said the gunman also shot a bouncer who pulled him off the musician.

At that point, Couch and a friend headed for the exit along with a tide of hundreds of fans.

It appeared the gunman purposely sought out the guitarist, whom Couch identified as a performer who went by the name "Dimebag Darrell."

Authorities didn't immediately provide the identities of the victims.

"It was definitely a grudge. It was against something," Couch said.

Amanda Stankus, 19, who attended the show with Couch, said she initially thought the shooting was part of the show.

"I just saw the guitarist fall down, and we decided to get out of there," said Stankus, of Columbus.

Stankus said she didn't see any metal detectors or uniformed police officers at the venue and that she wasn't searched or frisked on her way in.

NBC affiliate WCMH 4 TV has posted a video report on the shooting incident at an Ohio nightclub which resulted in the death of DAMAGEPLAN guitarist Dimebag Darrell. Watch the video, which includes a brief interview with an eyewitness, at this location:
http://nbc4i.feedroom.com/iframeset.jsp?ord=692079

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all i can say is holy crap!! that was such a freakin' nightmare... i don't ever want to be a part of anything like that again... i'm still shaking.... i don't even know what to say...

i was up close to the stage on the side where DBD was playing.... then i saw the guy jump out of the crwod onto the stage... he was yelling something about how "you broke up pantera.... you ruined my life.... then i saw the gun and he shot DBD right in the head... when DBD went down he kept shooting... then he turned around for bobzilla then vinnie... teh hole time i thought it was part of the show... i had blood on me i was so close... i'm still freakin' out here...

after he turned around and kept shooting i was gone... i swear i almost crapped my pants... it was ####' crazy as ####... people were totally messed up outside... i was standing next to this one chick and she was crying and couldn't stop... she fell on the ground and it was like she was possesed or something... dude it was so kayotic its not even funny... the cops showed up and then people started sayin' that DBD was killed... then people started freaking out even more...

i can't belive this happend... its so crazy... its totally unreal and there's no way to describe how messed up i am right now...

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hey...i live in cols and the alrosa is my second home from being there all the time i have to agree that security is not that good, but there was nothing anyone could do!....dime got killed, he was the first one to get shot and he got hit 5 times, some crazed kid from the audience walked up on the side of the stage and pointed to gun right at him no one could get to him in time......3 are dead, 7 other injured...i am truly sorry that this happened and to all the fans out there i give you my deepest condolences

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I didn't go to the concert. Ministry was in town so I went to that show instead. I found out about what happened when I got a call from a publicist in Los Angeles asking me if I was okay.

I went out to Alrosa Villa. Spoke to a few witnesses. One who works for the club and did lights this evening, one fan who was right at the front of the stage when it happened and his wife, who was on the Patio where the guy crashed the fence. before he made his way onto the stage.

From what everyone has said, this was essentially an assassination. Yes, others were killed, but the guy made a bee-line right for Dimebag, held the gun right to his head and squeezed off three rounds. The witnesses I spoke to said that nothing was said, that the time between him getting onstage and pulling the trigger was too short, or that the music was so loud you couldn't hear anything anyway.

The assassin had one thing in mind. Nobody knows for what reasons as of yet, and maybe we will never know. (This won't stop suspicious minds from speculating, naturally.)

The police spokesperson said that an officer happened to be right around the club so he got to the club only about two minutes after the shooting started. From what I heard, the guy had emptied one clip, had loaded another and just started to shoot into the crowd. He also supposedly took a male hostage. The standoff didn't last long: The cop took out the suspect with a shotgun blast to the head.

Dimebag is dead and probably never knew what hit him. I don't know what other member is dead but rumor had it it was the bassist. Vinnie Paul is alive and shaken.

Among the rest of the dead are a club employee named Aaron, supposedly, a local loader. And the shooter.

I spoke to the owner of the club. He was incredibly shaken and didn't know what was going to happen. I felt really bad - I wanted to get a quote for the story I have to write but Rick is a good guy and a friend and I didn't want to ambush him mere hours after this tragedy. I hope I can speak with him on the record this afternoon.

I will repeat that he said that the actions taken by his bouncers was heroic and saved lives. Given how many shots this guy took (no less than 15 according to one person I spoke with) and how many people were within spitting distance of him (the venue was not sold out but was filled nicely - probably 500 or so people according to estimates I heard) this one could have easily been a lot worse.

I also made some calls to Phil Anselmo's people to get a reaction. Thus far, no official release, but a spokesperson said he was "devastated."

For the record (for those who don't know about Columbus) Alrosa has been here for a few decades. It still has the feel of the old New Jersey metal emporiums - and it booked a lot of the bands, then and now. However, bands such as Guided By Voices have graced the stage there. Shows in limbo include Satyricon and Hatebreed.

The owner Rick "The Rock And Roll Reverend" Cautella is an character. He always did his own commercials on the local radio station complete with loud sound effects. He seemed to enjoy the attention that came from this. He always made sure I got into the room and when I previewed a show for him, he's sport me a beer or two.

I'm rambling a bit with this stream-of-consciousness. All I know is that had I had an assignment to review this show - or even if Ministry wasn't in town this evening - I would have been at that show. It's hard to separate me as a writer trying to get as much information as possible for my story (stories, actually, since another of my outlets will probably ask me to supply something) and me as the guy who went to that place fairly often and knew a lot of the people there.

I don't know what will happen. I kind of feel like those folks in Rhode Island felt except even though so many more people died there, that was an accident caused by unfortunate negligence. This was completely intentional, an assassination as sure as I'm typing this, and that's just surreal to contemplate.

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check out all the latest moco news: www.myspace.com/moco - now with added SOUL !!!

Jesus!! thats bad.

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If Ian Curtis had lived, and enjoyed the ale…

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If Ian Curtis had lived, and enjoyed the ale…

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