Aaron "Wirez" Barnes, the former sound engineer for Pantera and Damageplan, is being held on $25,000 bond for charges of possessing and promoting child pornography, as well as meth possession, according to MyTexasDaily.com.
The former sound guy from hell was a prominent figure during the glory days of Pantera, appearing in several of the band's legendary home movies from the 1990s and VH1's Behind The Music series. Barnes also toured on Damageplan's ill-fated 2004 tour and witnessed the murder of Dimebag and three other people.
"These investigators obtained and executed a search warrant for the suspect's residence in Plano, Texas," reads a statement from the Collin County Sheriff's Office. "Evidence recovered at the scene include devices utilized to share and view child pornography as well as eight grams of methamphetamine."
It didn't take long for Dallas-based metal musicians and other figures to hit social media with their outage and thoughts on Barnes' arrest.
"I have 327 mutual friends with this piece of shit," Warbeast guitarist Drew Shoup wrote on Facebook. "People like this don’t deserve life. Waste of good oxygen and space. Don’t idolize people like this."
"I think we should reserve judgement until we know all the facts and see what is going on. There may or may not be an explanation. I am not defending such actions but I would like to know more information before I pass judgment on someone I have known since the mid 90's," former Big Vin Records videographer Robert "Videobob" Moseley wrote on Barnes' Facebook timeline. "I certainly will never defend or understand this crime, but I will listen to the circumstances and see what happens."
We can't imagine what it would like to see a friend arrested for a crime as heinous as this, so our thoughts are with the entire Pantera crew as this is something that clearly doesn't settle well.
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