The 18 year-old suspect in a bloody attack on three men in a New Bedford, Mass., gay bar died on Feb. 5, hours after being caught in Arkansas following a shootout with police, Reuters reported.
Jacob 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 chase.
Robida became the subject of a nationwide manhunt after he was accused of wounding three people with a gun and a hatchet at Puzzles Lounge, a Massachusetts gay nightspot, late on Feb. 1, CNN.com reported. According to reports, Robida was also suspected of shooting and killing a police officer in Gassville, Ark., who had pulled the Pontiac over for a routine traffic stop, police said.
Robida died at CoxHealth Hospital in Springfield, Mo., where he was taken in critical condition after being captured.
On Feb. 1, he went on a rampage after walking into the lounge, ordering two drinks and asking the bartender 'Is this a gay bar?' After being told it was, the teenager went to a back area, pulled a hatchet out of his coat and lunged at several men, striking two in the face. He then drew a gun and began firing.
A woman, Jennifer Rena Bailey, 33, was found dead in Robida's car. Authorities said she was shot in the head, just before Robida turned his gun on police.
One victim of the Massachusetts attack, Robert Perry, was released from a Boston hospital on Feb. 3, according to the Associated Press. He had a black right eye, a long hatchet wound on his right cheek and a bullet hole in his back.
Officials said one victim was still hospitalized but would not reveal the third victim's location, the AP noted.
A search of Robida's bedroom turned up neo-Nazi literature and posters condemning gays, Jews and African Americans. Interestingly, Robida was a graduate of New Bedford's junior police academy, a program intended to build social skills, self-esteem and self-confidence in children 12 to 14, according to CNN.com .
Reactions from the LGBTA community were harsh and swift. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese commented in a statement that '[w]hen a man walks into a bar, asks if it's a gay bar and starts shooting, there couldn't be any more glaringly obvious and enraging example that we need uniform hate-crimes laws and that Congress has stubbornly failed to act.' In another statement, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said that the incident 'is a sad reminder that shameful efforts to scapegoat any group of Americans for electoral gain is a dangerous strategy that carries real human cost.'
At a candlelight vigil outside the nightspot, people denounced the crime, The Houston Chronicle reported. Gays have the right to congregate in safety and without fear of violence, said Andrew Pollock, president of the Marriage Equality Coalition of the South Seacoast.