Massachusetts gay bar shooting suspect dies
The teenager involved in a bloody attack on three men in a Massachusetts gay bar died early on Sunday morning from wounds sustained in a gun battle with Arkansas police, a police spokesman said.
"Jacob Robida died at 3:38 Central Time (0938 GMT)," Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler told Reuters. "His body will now be released to the state crime lab."
Robida, who had fled 1,500 miles to the Ozark Mountains, was shot twice in the head by police shortly after he crashed his car following a 16-mile (26-km) chase, police said.
The 18-year-old, who had become the subject of a nationwide manhunt after he was accused of wounding three people with a gun and a hatchet in a New Bedford, Massachusetts, gay bar last week, shot and killed a police officer in Gassville, Arkansas on Saturday after the officer pulled the Pontiac over for a routine traffic stop, police said.
When the high-speed chase ended and police approached the car, Robida traded fire with police who then shot him through the window, police said. A 33-year-old woman from West Virginia, who police said knew the teenager, was found dead in the car after Robida was shot, police said.
Robida died at CoxHealth Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, where he was taken in critical condition on Saturday after being captured, police said.
Robida walked into Puzzles Lounge in New Bedford late on Wednesday evening, ordered two drinks and asked the bartender "Is this a gay bar?"
After being told it was, the teenager, moved to a back area, pulled a hatchet out of his coat and lunged at several men, striking two in the face in the early morning hours on Thursday. He then drew a gun and began firing, witnesses and police said.
DEATH NO SURPRISE
On Sunday afternoon the mother of Alex Taylor, one of Robida's victims, said her son remained in a hospital in very serious condition after having been hit in the head with the hatchet. Robert Perry, another victim, returned to Puzzles on Saturday evening with a bruised right eye and gash on his cheek. No information was available on Sunday about the third victim.
As news of his death spread through the once-prosperous whaling town on the state's southern coast, police said they were not surprised that the high school dropout died after a shootout.
"We had a feeling he would either commit suicide or try to commit suicide by cop," New Bedford police captain Richard Spirlet said. "Those who commit suicide by cop want to have a shootout with police and know they are going to be killed."
At Robida's grandmother's house the telephone was picked up and immediately placed down again. His mother could not be reached for comment.
Robida's room, searched earlier in the week by police, was filled with neo-Nazi literature and posters slurring gays, Jews and blacks, plus a makeshift coffin.
The mood in New Bedford on Sunday ranged from relief that Robida will not be back to fear that someone else might try to finish what the teenager had planned in the only U.S. state where gay marriage is legal.
"When people use words that are hateful and mean-spirited, people are empowered to act violently," said John Vasconcellos, a local gay activist.
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited.
[Editor's Note: I know that 46 years ago (1960-61) when Illinois was in a position much like Massachusetts is today -- the only state in which homosexual behavior was considered legal -- the attitude by gay people was much the same: On one hand people were glad to see the state taking this progressive stance, yet there was the constant worry that our new found 'freedom' in Illinois might be a signal for people from other places -- or even Illinois -- who did not like us to cause trouble. But unlike today -- 2006 -- where the gay lifestyle is much more common and (as 'they' phrase it) "special rights for gay people" are all around, I do not think in 1960 there were that many loud-mouthed agitators working against us.
PAT]
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