Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has spoken about his feelings over the shooting of guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott this Wednesday.

Ozzy often toured with Abbott, who was killed aged 38. The BBC reports that Ozzy said: "I'm absolutely beside myself with grief.

"I can't for the life of me understand why someone would do this."

Abbott and three others were shot dead when his band Damageplan took to the stage at the Alrosa Villa Club in Columbia, Ohio, then the shooter, Nathan Gale, was killed by a policeman after the first shots were fired.

No motive has yet been confirmed, but Sgt Brent Mull said that he heard witnesses describe how Gale had blamed Abbott for Pantera's split-up.

Pantera were one of the most popular metal bands of the early 1990s, topping the US album charts and receiving a Grammy nomination for 1994's Far Beyond Driven.