Fans sue nightclub where Pantera guitarist shot

[Edward Rose]

Fans sue nightclub where Pantera guitarist shot
Pair who witnessed deadly shooting spree in 2004 fault security

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16127518

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Two rock fans who witnessed the killing of heavy metal guitarist ?Dimebag? Darrell Abbott in a nightclub shooting spree that left five dead are suing the club?s owners, saying the club provided inadequate security.

Jerry and Karen Wessler claim in their lawsuit that they still suffer severe and permanent emotional injuries from seeing deranged fan Nathan Gale rush the stage at the Alrosa Villa nightclub Dec. 8, 2004.

Gale, a former Marine, killed Abbott and three others who tried to intervene. He avoided security at the front entrance by climbing a fence and entering a side door.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, claims Gale?s actions ?were reasonably foreseeable, given the totality of circumstances.? An attorney for the Wesslers declined to give details.

The Wesslers are seeking unspecified damages from club owners Rick and John Cautela, who did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Last year, Vincent Abbott, who was the guitarist?s brother and drummer, also sued the club alleging inadequate security. He was joined in the lawsuit by plaintiffs Chris Paluska, the band?s tour manager, and John Brooks, a drum technician.

Gale was still shooting and had a hostage in his arms when Columbus police officer James Niggemeyer killed him with a shotgun blast. A grand jury cleared Niggemeyer of wrongdoing.

Abbott was a well-known member of the Grammy-nominated heavy metal band Pantera. Damageplan, the band playing on the night of the shooting spree, formed after Pantera broke up.

[TAP]

I went to the AV several times when I lived in Columbus. A place like that (basically a concrete box next to a strip mall) can't be expected to provide security preventing an ex-marine with mental illness scaling a 6ft fence and rushing in through a fire exit.

[Edward Rose]

I went to the AV several times when I lived in Columbus. A place like that (basically a concrete box next to a strip mall) can't be expected to provide security preventing an ex-marine with mental illness scaling a 6ft fence and rushing in through a fire exit.

True. I've worked at shows on that scale. The side door is usually open for band mambers to wander in and out of... to go to their cars, smoke weed, etc., etc. Very common.

It'll probably be decided that a person of his fame level didn't and doesn't require that level of security.

[makane]

Why did they start/continue to perform if the security was "inadequate"?

[Edward Rose]

Why did they start/continue to perform if the security was "inadequate"?

I'm not defending the night club or the fans who are suing the club, but this is how a lawyer representing the fans might address your question.

The fans are suing the night club for their trauma which resulted from them having to see people be shot. This actually IS a traumatic thing... you don't know til you've been in a situation like this.

The fans were unaware of the inadequate security at the side door, and that it would lead to the shotting. The band was in a similar situation... not knowing that the side door was unattended while they were on stage playing.