Police investigate shooting as hate crime  | News | Advocate.com

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February 03, 2006
Police investigate shooting as hate crime
Police investigate shooting as hate crime

A teenager armed with a hatchet and handgun opened fire inside a New Bedford, Mass., gay bar early Thursday, wounding at least three people in what police are investigating as a hate crime.

A bartender at Puzzles Lounge told the Associated Press that the young man, dressed all in black, ordered a drink and asked if Puzzles was a gay bar. He finished his drink shortly after midnight, ordered another, then started attacking people, the bartender said. Three were hospitalized Thursday.

Police were searching for Jacob D. Robida, 18, police captain Richard Spirlet said. An arrest warrant was issued charging Robida with assault, attempted murder, and civil rights violations.

According to a court filing attached to the warrant, a woman in the bar recognized Robida as a current or former student at New Bedford High School. The teenager was armed with a handgun and "some sort of cutting instrument," Spirlet said. The bartender said the attacker was swinging a hatchet.

After finishing his drink, the man walked to the back of the bar where two men were playing pool, shoved one to the ground, then pulled a hatchet from his sweatshirt and began swinging at the man's head, cutting him, said the bartender, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Phillip, because of concerns about his safety. Other patrons tackled the man, sending the hatchet sliding across the floor, and that's when the man pulled out a handgun, he said.

The gunman shot both pool players and also fired at a patron who was leaving the bathroom, hitting him in the chest. "He was shooting at everyone," said Phillip, adding that the attacker also shoved him before running out. He said police found the hatchet and a machete in the bar. Puzzles is popular with the local gay community and is listed on Web sites offering resources to gays and lesbians. New Bedford, a city of 94,000 residents, is 50 miles south of Boston.

"When 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," said Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese. "The Senate can change this today. Whether the hate crime occurs in New Bedford, Mass., or Roanoke, Va., local law enforcement deserve access to the same tools. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act would do this."

Solmonese added, "I am infuriated and deeply saddened. Our hearts are with the families and friends of those wounded in this tragic hate crime. This harrowing crime is a sobering and shocking reminder of the way antigay prejudice manifests to violence and that we need to deal with this as a country." (AP)

© 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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