Man Held in Bar Attack Dies After Shootout
By NOAH TRISTER, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago
GASSVILLE, Ark. - The teenager suspected of a hatchet-and-gun attack in
a Massachusetts gay bar and in the killing of two people in Arkansas,
including a policeman, died Sunday of wounds suffered in a gun battle
with officers, authorities said.
Jacob D. Robida, 18, died at 3:38 a.m. Sunday at Cox-South Hospital in
Springfield, Mo., said hospital spokesman Randy Berger.
Robida, a high school dropout who friends said glorified Naziism, was
shot twice in the head in a shootout with police Saturday after he
killed a Gassville police officer and a woman in his car, authorities
said.
Two days earlier, he allegedly went on a rampage at the Puzzles Lounge
in New Bedford, Mass., that injured three men, one critically. Police
labeled that attack a hate crime.
"I wish he would have lived and gone on trial," said Dan Sheterom, 51,
who lives above Puzzles Lounge and frequents the tavern. "I would have
liked to have seen if the commonwealth here would have taken it up to
the federal government as a hate crime."
Before Robida's death, Massachusetts police had said he would be
charged with attempted murder, assault and civil rights violations in
the attack. In Arkansas, killing a police officer is punishable by
death.
Robida's friends said he had, at times, glorified Nazism and bore a
swastika tattoo, but had not previously expressed prejudice toward
homosexuals.
Rep. Barney Frank (news,
bio,
voting
record), the openly gay congressman whose district includes New
Bedford, said the community has a history of tolerance.
"This is not some general problem with the people of New Bedford,"
Frank said. "This is one disturbed 18-year-old."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060205/ap_on_re_us/gay_bar_shooting