The gunman had a hostage in a headlock and appeared to be preparing to kill him when the officer shot him in the face with a rifle, police and a witness said. The hostage escaped uninjured, spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull said.

Two other people were hospitalized. Police said one was in intensive care and the other was stable.

Police identified the gunman as Nathan Gale, 25, of Marysville, 25 miles northwest of Columbus. Police said they had no information on a motive or any connection to Abbott or his band.

Damageplan had just begun its first song at Alrosa Villa club Wednesday night when the gunman climbed onstage, started yelling and shot Abbott five or six times at point-blank range, witness Chris Couch said.

Mull said the gunman's exact statement was unclear because of the loud music.

He said some witnesses reported hearing an accusation about Abbott breaking up his former band, thrash-rock pioneer Pantera, but police could not confirm whether the speaker was the gunman or a fan.

Police think there were earlier threats against the band, Mull said. He declined to give specifics.

Witnesses said the man, who was wearing a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey jersey over a hooded sweat shirt, jumped an 8-foot wooden fence and was being followed through the crowd by club security.

After firing at the guitarist, the gunman shot a bouncer who had pulled him off the musician, while fans surged toward the exit, said Couch, 22.

The gunman then fired into the crowd of more than 250 people, Mull said.

A man who called 911 told the dispatcher at one point that the man had a gun pointed at someone's head.

On another call, a woman said someone was shooting the band onstage. "They're screaming, 'Call 911,'" she said.

A sound like a gunshot was heard, and then the woman swore and said, "They're still shooting. The person is still loose with gun."

Mull said Officer James D. Niggemeyer, patrolling nearby, arrived within a few minutes. Niggemeyer, 31, saw one person lying dead and the suspect holding onto another "pretty much in a headlock," Mull said.

He said the hostage, "probably a fan, maybe someone who worked with the band," was able to maneuver out of the way before the officer fired.

Mull praised Niggemeyer's response.

"If the officer wasn't as close as he was, I think this would have been a lot worse," he said. "It was a chaotic scene, just a horrific scene."

Besides Abbott and Gale, police identified the dead as Nathan Bray, 23; Erin Halk, 29, and Jeff Thompson, 40.

Bray's family said the suburban Grove City man was a Damageplan fan. Halk worked for the club loading band equipment, said the club's lighting designer, Brian Kozicki. Thompson's last known address was in Texas, police said.

Couch said he thought the shooter had a plan. "It was definitely a grudge. It was against something," he said.