Editing Pantera (section)

===2003–2004: Damageplan and the murder of Dimebag Darrell===
{{Further|Columbus nightclub shooting}}
[[File:Dimebag 001.jpg|thumb|A fan outside the Alrosa Villa pays tribute to Dimebag Darrell, the main target of Nathan Gale's massacre]]
After Pantera's disbandment, Darrell and Vinnie formed a new band, [[Damageplan]], with vocalist [[Patrick Lachman|Pat Lachman]] and bassist [[Bob Kakaha|Bob Zilla]]. Damageplan released their first and only studio album, ''[[New Found Power]]'', on February 10, 2004. The album was a commercial success; over 44,000 copies were sold in its first week alone and within a year over 100,000 copies were sold, while the album's singles "Save Me" and "Pride" had appeared on the Mainstream Rock Chart. However, some fans felt that Damageplan's material did not measure up to that of Pantera.<ref name="btm" />

On December 8, 2004, less than a minute into the first song of a Damageplan show at the Alrosa Villa in [[Columbus, Ohio]], a 25-year-old man named Nathan Gale walked onto the stage with a gun, shooting and killing [[Dimebag Darrell|Darrell]]. Gale also killed fan Nathan Bray, 23, club employee Erin Halk, 29, and Pantera security official Jeff "Mayhem" Thompson, 40, and injured longtime Pantera and Damageplan drum technician John "Kat" Brooks and Damageplan tour manager Chris Paluska before being shot dead by Columbus police officer James Niggemeyer.<ref name="mtvdamageplan">{{cite web | url = http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1494653/20041209/damageplan.jhtml?headlines=true | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041213090933/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1494653/20041209/damageplan.jhtml?headlines=true | url-status = dead | archive-date = December 13, 2004 | title = Dimebag Darrell, Four Others Killed In Ohio Concert Shooting | work = [[MTV]] | access-date = December 29, 2005}}</ref>

No motive has been given as to why Gale killed Dimebag Darrell and the other victims, but early theories, which were dismissed by police, suggested that Gale, who was reported to have been diagnosed with [[schizophrenia]], was apparently upset over Pantera's breakup. In a number of interviews, some of Gale's friends suggested that he claimed that he had written songs that were stolen by Pantera.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dimebag Darrell killing 'not motivated by Pantera split' |date=October 21, 2005|url=https://www.nme.com/news/pantera/21316|publisher=NME|access-date=March 29, 2014}}</ref>

A week after the shooting, it was reported that album sales of both Damageplan and Pantera albums jumped sharply.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Blabbermouth|date=2004-12-15|title=DAMAGEPLAN, PANTERA Album Sales Jump Sharply Following Guitarist's Death|url=https://search.blabbermouth.net/news/damageplan-pantera-album-sales-jump-sharply-following-guitarist-s-death/|access-date=2022-02-12|website=BLABBERMOUTH.NET|archive-date=February 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212172557/https://search.blabbermouth.net/news/damageplan-pantera-album-sales-jump-sharply-following-guitarist-s-death/|url-status=dead}}</ref>