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maleficent · 02-03-2006, 05:54 AM

Teenager Attacks Three Men at Gay Bar in Massachusetts

Quote:

BOSTON, Feb. 2 — A teenager armed with a hatchet and a handgun seriously injured three people early Thursday at a gay bar in New Bedford, Mass., the police said.

The teenager, Jacob Robida, was being sought Thursday night by the police, who issued an arrest warrant charging him with three counts each of assault with intent to murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and hate crimes.

Mr. Robida, 18, entered the Puzzles Lounge around midnight, the police said, and asked the bartender whether it was a gay bar.

When the bartender told him it was, Mr. Robida pulled out a hatchet and struck a man in the head, then struck a man who had tried to help the victim, said Capt. Richard Spirlet of the New Bedford police.

Captain Spirlet said that Mr. Robida pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot the man who had tried to help the first victim, then shot a third man across the bar.

The police said two victims were in critical condition.

A bartender named Phillip, who would not give his last name, told local television reporters that Mr. Robida ordered a shot of liquor, drank it, asked if he was in a gay bar, ordered and drank another shot, and attacked the first man.

The bartender said that Mr. Robida had aimed the gun at him, but he said that the gun failed to fire.

"I heard a click, and his eyes were just squinted," the bartender said.

The Associated Press reported that a court filing attached to the arrest warrant said a patron of the bar had recognized Mr. Robida from New Bedford High School, but Captain Spirlet said that Mr. Robida was no longer enrolled there.

The A.P. reported that a police affidavit said officers had found "Nazi regalia" and anti-Semitic writings on the walls of Mr. Robida's home.

Captain Spirlet said Mr. Robida had attended the junior police academy in New Bedford, which teaches discipline to adolescents.

New Bedford, an old whaling port, is a working-class city on Buzzard's Bay, about 60 miles south of Boston, and Puzzles Lounge was well-known among gays.

Before the attack on Thursday, Captain Spirlet said, the police had never had a problem at the bar.

Richard Macedo, who has owned the bar for 15 years, said it had never been the focus of any discrimination and said he had not known Mr. Robida. "It's hard to believe," Mr. Macedo said.

A candlelight vigil was held Thursday night at the bar, which remained open.

This was the top story on the news this morning... and it really makes me wonder - where hate happens, and how a person, at such a young age, with virtually no life experience, can have such hatred for people he's never met, has had no contact with... And where does the obsession with Nazi's come from?