Founder Of Club Where DIMEBAG Was Murdered Dies At 91

January 11, 2005

The Associated Press is reporting that one month after a shooting at a nightclub left five dead including the gunman, the club's 91-year-old founder has died.

Albert Cautela died Sunday at Riverside Methodist Hospital, said his son, Rick Cautela, owner of the Alrosa Villa.

The elder Cautela had suffered from symptoms of an enlarged and weakened heart, a stroke and kidney failure after family members told him of the Dec. 8 shootings the following morning.

"He just got real quiet after that," Rick Cautela said. "After we told him he never mentioned it again, but he was saddened."

Albert Cautela and his late wife, Rosa, opened Alrosa Villa 31 years ago.

The club has been closed since the shootings, but will reopen Friday with a benefit concert for the victims' families.

Police and witnesses said Nathan Gale, 25, of Marysville, scaled the 8-foot patio fence to get inside the club and climbed on stage, where he shot DAMAGEPLAN guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott as he played. He then killed a band security worker, club employee and fan before a police officer shot Gale.

Albert Cautela had been in good health until about a year ago, working in a bar geared for an older crowd at the front of the Alrosa Villa.

A funeral Mass is scheduled for Wednesday at the Resurrection Cemetery Chapel in Columbus.

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