On Dec. 8, 2004, Pantera and Damageplan guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott was murdered on stage at The Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. Almost 17 years to the day that the legendary guitarist was killed, the venue where it happened was demolished. A 180-unit apartment community will be built at the site.
Dimebag and three other people were killed by a 25-year-old ex-Marine, Nathan Gale, who charged the stage and opened fire on Damageplan and the audience before being killed himself by police officer James D. Niggemeyer. Abbott’s brother and Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul sued the club over his brother’s death, and the lawsuit was settled out of court in 2007. “What happened here on Dec. 8, 2004, was a tragedy for everyone and our hearts go out to the victims and their families,” Alrosa Villa’s then-manager Rick Cautela said in a statement issued after the settlement. “There is nothing we could have done to stop it.”
Dimebag is widely considered one of the most influential guitarists in heavy metal history. The band — consisting of Dimebag, Vinnie Paul, bassist Rex Brown and vocalist Phil Anselmo — helped popularize the groove metal genre with their 1990 “Cowboys from Hell” record. The follow-up albums, 1992’s “Vulgar Display of Power” and 1994’s “Far Beyond Driven,” are noticeably heavier and viewed in the upper echelon of heavy metal’s greatest records. Vinnie Paul later went on to form Hellyeah, but sadly died of heart failure in 2018.
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