COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNN) -- A gunman opened fire Wednesday night during a heavy metal concert in Columbus, killing four people -- including at least one member of the band -- and critically wounding at least two others before a police officer shot and killed him, according to Columbus police.

The attacker leapt onstage as the group, Damageplan, performed, and began "targeting members in the band," Sgt. Brent Mull said.

Two others were injured in the incident, although the nature of their injuries was not clear.

According to eyewitness accounts, the gunman initially shot and killed the band's guitarist, Dimebag Darrell. Darrell, 38, and his brother, Vinnie Paul, 40, are former members of Pantera -- a group they formed in the 1980s. Their father is Jerry Abbott, a country and western songwriter and producer.

Police were notified of the shooting at the Alrosa Villa nightclub on the city's north end around 10:18 p.m. ET, Mull said. A uniformed police officer who was in the area slipped into the venue from a back entrance, confronted the gunman during the rampage and killed him.

"If not for the officer who showed up, there would have been more dead," Mull said.

Police have roped off a huge area of the nightclub's parking lot, as 60 detectives question hundreds of witnesses. Police have brought in buses to keep the witnesses warm as they wait to be questioned.

Calvin Bota said he saw the shooting from the mosh pit right in front of the stage, shortly after the band began playing.

"Somebody came -- I don't know where they came from, out of the audience or whatnot -- but they come onto (the) stage and ... he shot the guitarist at first, fired a couple of other shots and then he hid behind the stage a little bit," Bota told WSYX.

"Everybody started scattering, you know, there's mayhem everywhere. And then a police officer came into the building, you know, came in professional with his gun raised and then he proceeded to shoot the guy."

Gerald Caudill told WSYX the gunman shot the guitarist at least four times.

"I was up close to the stage and I just saw some guy run up on the side of the stage and I heard some shots and I saw (drummer) Vinnie Paul and somebody jumped on top of Vinnie, and the guy just stayed around the stage and started shooting other people," Caudill said.

"I saw wounded people all over the place, out in the parking lot, inside," he said. "It just didn't sound like gunshots or anything, it didn't occur to me that something like that was happening."

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i really fucking hate people.

nope, it's the real shit. some fucked up wacko got up on stage and shot darrell. i've alerady had three friends call me up about it (which is why i'm up).

a vid clip about it...

http://nbc4i.feedroom.com/iframeset.jsp?ord=147762

HOLY FUCKIN' NO!!!!!!!!!! jesus fuckin' christ!!!!!!! my god.....man, AHHHHH!!!!!! no word can express my fuckin' anger at this moment......man, what the fuck....and whatz worse, i'm from OHIO!!!!! goddammit!!!!!

it's not like it matters that you're from ohio though. that's like sticking me with all the deaths from the la area.

yeah, i know, but itz....well, still.....itz an ohio thing.....

but goddamn man!!!!! GRRRRR!!!!!!! mother fucker......

and here i am, sittin' here thinkin'....i have a washburn guitar, dimebag darrel series, with a misprint: Dimebag Darbell.............gotta be worth sumtin' right?! and fuck me for thinkin' it.....goddamn it.....man, fuckin' eh......goddamn columbus assholes....i always hated columbus....

why would that be the first thing you think about? that's kinda fucked up... i mean the guy just died.

it wasn't the first thing i thought about.....but i'm pissed for havin' thought it all......'cuz man, goddammit, i love Pantera.....and i love Dimebag Darrell....but just the other day i was thinkin' whether or not to sell that guitar.....and now that he's dead, the thought of selling it popped in my head.....and thatz part of one of the reasons why i'm so pissed.....i'm not only pissed because some lunatic fuck head killed one of the greatest guitarists ever, one of my inspirations, but because i'm such a fuckin' sick shit thinkin' about my guitar......so yeah, i'm pretty pissed right now....especially at myself

trust me, i'm pretty fuckin' pissed too, but whatever. all sorts of shit goes through people's heads when people die. it all boils down to the fact that we can't go back in time and have dimebag darrell release new shit, but i'd still love to take the dumbshit that killed darrell and fucking torture him until he cried for about eight decades straight.

yeah, and that slightly irks me too.....pantera will never reunite, i'll never get to see 'em live.....and fuck!!!! man.....some people....what the fuck man!!!! i just.....yeah, fuckin' asshole....i don't believe in hell, but may he fuckin' burn for eternity with satans poker up his ass.....goddamn!!!!!!!

i'm goin' to sleep.....gonna listen to some pantera, as i've been doin' for the last 20 minutes......and dammit....fuck

Yeah, this is all incredibly weak... I really hope Vinnie isn't dead too. He was my idol for a while there. And Darrell... well, he will always be one of the best metal guitarists of all time. I spent all of 8th grade listening to him shred. Rest in Peace, man... and save me a seat in Metal Heaven.

# of times sixxx(sic)six has said "fuck" in this thread (so far): 14

yeah, i'm upset

so i was watchin' the ONN (ohio news network) and listenin' to WEBN - cincinatti....

um, according to ONN, the nightclub Alrosa has been host to shootings before, this is by far the worst...and the fuckin' pisses me off!!!! i mean, c'mon!!!! what fuckin' nightclub, which is prone to gun violence, doesn't even fuckin' bother checkin' assholes at the door?! witnesses say the dude simply pulled the gun out of his hoodie's pocket!!!!! what the fuck!!!! i hope this place gets sued to the ground!

also, witnesses were sayin' that the shooter wasn't even a metalhead, as he was dressed grunge....don't know if that realy means anything, but they wonder whether or not he went there with the intention of shooting DD, who definately got the worst of it....i think a total of 5 times....

also, ONN says 3 people are dead, 4 injured
CNN says 4 people are dead, 3 injured
WEBN (cincinatti) says a fifth person just died, who is in fact Vinnie Paul......

so who knows.....fuckin' goddamn it

ok, ok....itz all sorted out...

the 3 ONN speaks of are the victims....the 4th CNN speaks of is the shooter.....a 5th has in fact recently died, but the police aren't releasin' their name yet....

I never liked Pantera, so I wasn't upset by this. But it happened on the 24th ann. of Lennon's death. Which is interesting.

But regardless, this is sure to fuck up something for our musical listening/viewing futures. Fucking idiots.

-Creep

Also, Im willing to bet the last person is Vinnie....The reason of not releasing the name is to keep people from just giving up all hope and shooting theirselves in retaliation. Anyhow...that's Damageplan's last day.

And you know, Phil is probably shitting gold that he quit Pantera!