Mother Of DIMEBAG's Killer Said Cop Who Took Out Her Son Did What He Had To Do

June 9, 2005

The Associated Press has issued the following report:

Columbus police officer who killed the gunman behind a fatal nightclub shooting spree said he didn't know one of the victims was a famous guitarist until the next day.

Officer James Niggemeyer, 31, said he grew up on a cattle farm in southeast Ohio and listened mostly to country music. He wasn't familiar with "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, one of four people killed by Nathan Gale during a heavy metal concert at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in December.

Abbott gained notoriety with the Grammy-nominated band PANTERA in the 1990s.

"I hadn't heard of the guitarist, but I'd heard of PANTERA," Niggemeyer told The Columbus Dispatch in an interview at the nightclub Wednesday (June 8).

Niggemeyer was the first officer to arrive at the Alrosa Villa on Dec. 8. Gale, 25, of Marysville, was still shooting and had taken a hostage when the officer came in.

Niggemeyer killed Gale with one shotgun blast while he still had the hostage in his arms. Investigators said Gale had 35 bullets left.

"You know it can happen, but you never want to shoot another human being," he said. "It's horrible."

Some officers were moving toward Gale while Niggemeyer was approaching him, which he credits for distracting Gale and keeping him safe.

A Franklin County jury cleared Niggemeyer last month of any wrongdoing in the shooting. Gale's mother also wrote him a letter, saying that the officer did what he had to do, he said.

Gale had told his mother and a former employer that he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic before he was discharged from the Marines in October 2003, two years into a four-year stint. Military records do not mention mental illness as the reason for the discharge.

Gale was a fan of PANTERA, nominated for a Grammy in 1994. DAMAGEPLAN, the band playing on the night of the shooting spree, formed after PANTERA broke up.

Niggemeyer returned to the club for its reopening concert in January and received a large ovation from the crowd.

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