Jacob D. Robida - Misplaced Pages

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Jacob D. Robida (June 13, 1987 – February 5, 2006) was a Massachusetts teenager. Prior to his death he was a suspect in an alleged hate crime, attempted murder, and murder who was wanted in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He died in a Missouri hospital at 03:38 CST on February 5, 2006, following a shootout with local authorities on February 4, 2006, in Norfork, Arkansas, in which he attempted to commit suicide, shooting himself in the head.

Accusations and manhunt

In the early hours of Thursday, February 2, 2006, eighteen year-old Jacob Robida allegedly entered a gay bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts, fifty miles (93 km) south of Boston. The teenager, dressed in black, entered the Puzzle Lounge, a popular local bar, around midnight. Robida proceeded to order a drink using a fake ID which indicated his age was twenty-three. After downing his first drink, he asked the bartender if the lounge was a gay bar. The bartender confirmed that it was. After finishing his second drink, Robida allegedly swung a hatchet at a patron's head, injuring him. Other patrons tackled him and relieved him of the hatchet, whereupon Robida produced a handgun and began shooting, wounding at least three more people.

Robida then fled the scene; both the hatchet and a machete were later recovered by authorities in the bar. Robida was then wanted on three counts of attempted murder. Police treated the incident as a hate crime. In total, four people were seriously hurt in the attack. Local authorities immediately began a manhunt for Robida and raided his mother's home in New Bedford. They talked to his mother, who told them that she had last seen Robida at 1:00 am bleeding from the head and that he had left soon after. They found weapons of all types, including hatchets, knives, a few handguns, as well as a shotgun. When police entered Robida's bedroom, they found "Nazi regalia" and anti-Semitic writings all over his bedroom walls. Fearing that he may have left Massachusetts, the local authorities contacted the FBI, which sparked a nationwide manhunt. Flyers were distributed all over Massachusetts, which gave a depiction of Robida, and stated that he was driving a 1999 green Pontiac.

In 1983, New Bedford was also the scene of another high-profile bar attack, the gang rape of a woman whose case inspired the 1988 movie The Accused, starring Jodie Foster.

Capture

On 4 February, 2006, Robida's green Pontiac was seen in Arkansas, and Jim Sell, 63, a Gassville police officer, initiated a traffic stop. Robida then allegedly opened fire with a 9mm handgun, killing the officer. Police pursued him and laid spike traps, but this failed to stop the vehicle. Robida stopped in Norfork, Arkansas and exchanged gunfire with police, somehow resulting in the death of Robida's female companion, Jennifer Rena Bailey, age 33, of Charleston, West Virginia. The authorities believe that Robida had picked her up earlier in the week at her home in West Virginia, for some unknown reason. The authorities have confirmed that Robida had shot her point-blank during the shootout with local authorities. It has been reported that Robida lived with her in West Virginia in 2004. In the gunfight, Robida apparently attempted to commit suicide, shooting himself in the head. He was airlifted to Springfield, Missouri for medical treatment, where he died of his injuries not long afterwards. He would have faced charges of murder, 3 counts of attempted murder, and civil rights violations.

Biography

File:Capt.bx10202032146.gay bar shooting bx102.jpg

Robida, shown with a gun and Nazi imagery

A high school dropout, Robida maintained a personal website on MySpace.com (now taken down - however there is a copy of the page's contents here ), which showed his main interests to be the rap group, Insane Clown Posse, and Neo-Nazism. He considered himself to be a Juggalo, (a term coined by Insane Clown Posse as a follower of the Dark Carnival cult) and made many references to the Juggalo sub-culture on the site. Incidentally, "The Hatchet" is the street name of ICP's record label, Psychopathic Records, and a hatchet is featured on the record label's logo. In a Juggalo self-quiz that is featured on his site, to the question "Your murder weapon is...", an automated system generated the answer, "hatchet". A hatchet was one of the weapons used in his violent rampage at a Massachusetts gay bar.