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Gay Bar Gunman's Fatal Wound Self Inflicted Police Now Say


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Gay Bar Gunman's Fatal Wound Self Inflicted Police Now Say

by Margo Williams, 365Gay.com Boston Bureau

February 7, 2006 - 7:00 pm ET

(New Bedford, Massachusetts) An autopsy has found that the teenager involved in a hate-filled rampage at a New Bedford gay bar last week fired the fatal shots into his own head during Saturday's gun battle with Arkansas police.

At a late afternoon news conference New Bedford District Attorney Paul Walsh Jr. said that ballistics test showed that the fatal shot was fired by Jacob Robida's own gun.

Walsh also said that it has been determined that Robida was also responsible for fatally shooting Jennifer Rena Bailey, 33, who he picked up in West Virginia in his flight from Massachusetts.

Police originally believed that the shots that killed Robida had been fired by Arkansas police during a final gun battle on Saturday in the town of Norfolk. They also were unsure if the shot that killed Bailey came from Robida's gun or if she had been felled by a police bullet.

The shootout came after a 20-mile police chase after Robida shot and killed Gassville, Ark., police officer Jim Sell.

Funeral services will be held for Sell on Friday. A delegation from New Bedford plans to attend. Mayor Scott W. Lang, Deputy Chief of Police David A. Provencher, and several members of the gay community will all be at Sell's funeral.

What set off Robida's spree of violence last week may never be known.

It began early Thursday when he went to Puzzles bar in his hometown of New Bedford Massachusetts, took a hatchet from underneath his sweatshirt and struck one man in the face and then pulled a gun and began shooting. In all three people were wounded and sent to hospital. (story)

Monday, New Bedford prosecutors on Monday released a note written by 18-year old Jacob Robida immediately after the attack at Puzzles. (story)

"We didn't interpret it necessarily as a suicide note, but it was certainly the note of a desperate man who had some plans to continue doing something violent," said Walsh.

©365Gay.com 2006

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