RITA HANEY: How I Found Out About DIMEBAG's Death

In a new interview with comedian and podcaster Zane Lamprey, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott's longtime girlfriend Rita Haney reflected on the PANTERA guitarist's murder while on stage at the Alrosa Villa in north Columbus, Ohio. The shooting happened in December 2004, only moments after Dimebag's then-band DAMAGEPLAN took the stage. 25-year-old Nathan Gale used a 9 mm Beretta handgun to fire 15 shots, killing Dimebag and three other people, before being killed himself by police officer James D. Niggemeyer, who arrived on the scene minutes after Gale began his rampage.

Regarding how she found out that Dimebag had been shot, Rita said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[Marilyn] Manson was playing in Dallas, and Bobby Tongs [an official videographer for PANTERA] and Guy Sykes, the [tour manager] for PANTERA, were both on the crew. And so we were all going. And it was me, a couple of friends, my sister, her husband. And I'd hopped in the Cadillac Rock Box and was backing out of the garage, and my phone was ringing and it was some 708 number or something like that. I never would answer calls of someone I didn't know. But I don't know why — I was in such a great mood for some reason, 'cause I knew I was driving there, but I wasn't gonna be driving home. So, I answered it, and it was Vinnie [Paul Abbott, PANTERA and DAMAGEPLAN drummer and Dimebag's brother]. And he's, like, 'Hey.' He goes, 'I'm in the kitchen with a butcher knife, and I just saw someone shoot my brother.' I go, 'Who is this?' And he goes, 'It's Vinnie fucking Paul.' He goes, 'You're the only goddamn phone number I can remember.' And I've never changed my number. I mean, I had it since the '90s, And it's still the same today. And I was, like, 'What?' I go, 'Are you sure?' I just didn't know what else [to say]. And I just had my foot on the brake and I just shoved it into park. And I just kind of sat there. And he goes, 'I will call you back.' And he hung up… That was [the only information we had]. And I remember my brother-in-law at the time, he was, like, 'What's wrong? What's wrong?' So I told him. And so I just pulled the car back into the garage and we just get out and everybody's just silent and quiet and we go inside and we just sit and we're just waiting. Waiting for more [information]. And then, I don't know — it just seemed like forever, but it was probably maybe half hour or so. And I got a call from Darrell's cell phone, 'cause I thought it was him calling me. But his phone had been left on the bus. It was charging, and once they started clearing out the club, they put the band at the bus and they were just there waiting. And Vinnie didn't know. No one knew anything. And I remember the guys, of course, when they came on, I asked each one of them their experience of that night. I had to know. Darrell was really big on making me watch forensic shows, which would drive me crazy. And he'd always fall asleep. But I watched so many of them. I guess I was curious and needed to know these things. And I think it's also a piece of mind in your mind as to how you think things happened, and you need to know, instead of imagining. Did he know what was happening? Was he scared? Could I have done anything? 'Cause I would have been in front of him with a video camera. And you think, 'Would I have seen this person coming? Could I have thrown that camera?' But you think all those things. But I remember a couple of the guys telling me, they go, 'We all were looking at Darrell's phone going, 'Who's gonna call Rita? Who's gonna tell her?'' And the way [Vinnie] found out was he kept asking and asking, and finally one of the police officers, he goes, 'Look, can you just tell me if one of the guys had a tattoo of a lightning bolt guitar?' And he said, 'Yes.' So that's how we knew. But with it being that kind of scene and what was going on, they were all just kept separated and out of there. You were told that, but you kept thinking, 'Let it be someone else, let it be someone else,' or, 'Why couldn't it be someone else?'"

Asked by Lamprey if the shooting happened backstage, Haney said: "They were on stage, performing. They had just come out, probably about 30-something seconds into the first song. And so it was right in front of all of those people. And just to think what they had to go through to see that. I just couldn't imagine. And several of our crew members were killed and wounded and that sort of thing too. 'Cause this went on for a good 20 minutes that they dragged our drum tech Kat, [whose real name is] John Brooks, around. And he kept yelling at the guy, 'Stop killing my friends,' and he would shoot him. I mean, he was shot three times, and he survived. Our acting TM [tour manager] at the time was shot in the chest. Our security guy was killed. One of the guys from the crowd who was a paramedic — he was, like, 21 years old, [with a] new baby, had jumped up there to try to do CPR. He was shot and killed. And so was one of the guys that worked in the club too. I don't know if he was acting security, but all of this was going on. It's like the guy was on a mission, and he was looking for someone, and we believe that was [Dimebag]. And from what we gather after, through the investigation, was that he had been discharged from the military. He was an ex-Marine. I guess one year into his term after being trained to do what he does, they figured out he was schizophrenic and pulled him off of active duty, put him behind a desk, but monitored his meds. And he saw a psychiatrist. And I guess during those talks, he talked about how the band had started, through their lyrics, telling his thoughts to people and he needed to put a stop to that. And I thought to myself, well, why didn't anybody give us a heads up and say, 'Hey, by the way, we're discharging this guy. We've trained him to kill, by the way, but we're not gonna monitor him now. And they should have — they should have been responsible for that. And that's why I think it's just such a sad state the way our military is treated. They're used up and thrown away. And we've gotta be better people."

Dimebag and Vinnie Paul formed PANTERA in the mid-1980s in Texas. The band recorded four independent albums before their 1990 major label debut, "Cowboys From Hell", introduced a heavier sound and made them a favorite with metal fans. 1994's "Far Beyond Driven" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 without benefit of a commercial hit single.

The group splintered in 2002 following the departure of volatile lead singer Philip Anselmo. Dime and Vinnie regrouped with DAMAGEPLAN, releasing the band's debut album, "New Found Power", in February of 2004. The group was touring in support of the record at the time of the shootings.

Haney in 2011 called on Vinnie and Anselmo to settle their differences in honor of Dimebag.

Vinnie and Anselmo had not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie indirectly blamed Philip for Dimebag's death, suggesting that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.

Vinnie passed away on June 22, 2018 at his home in Las Vegas at the age of 54. He died of dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, as well as severe coronary artery disease. His death was the result of chronic weakening of the heart muscle — basically meaning his heart couldn't pump blood as well as a healthy heart.

In July 2022, it was announced that Brown and Anselmo would team up with guitarist Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE) and drummer Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.