Gay-bar attacker 'left note'

2006-02-07 14:10

New Bedford - A teenager suspected of attacking three men at a gay bar, later killing two other people while fleeing from authorities in another state, left a note indicating he planned "something violent", said authorities on Monday.

Jacob D Robida, 18, was fatally wounded on Saturday after he opened fire on police at a roadblock following a high-speed chase in Arkansas.

He was shot twice in the head and died at a hospital the next day.

In New Bedford, where police said Robida attacked patrons at Puzzles Lounge with a hatchet early on Thursday and later opened fire with a handgun, detectives found what they considered a troubling message in Robida's room at his mother's home.

'My son came home bleeding'

Bristol County district attorney Paul Walsh jun said: "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."

The contents of the note were not released. It was unclear whether Robida left the note before or after the nightclub attack.

Robida's mother told police her son had come home after the attack about 01:00 with his head bleeding, later left again.

A Massachusetts police official close to the case said Jennifer Rena Bailey, 33, told a friend that Robida, who she knew from the internet, contacted her after the attack to seek refuge in her Charleston, West Virginia, apartment.

Arkansas shootout

The official said Bailey's friend contacted Massachusetts authorities on Saturday to warn them that Robida might have been in West Virginia, but the tip came more than an hour after the Arkansas shootout.

Robida had killed Gassville, Arkansas, police officer Jim Sell at a traffic stop, setting off a 32km chase that ended in a gun battle after Robida allegedly shot and killed Bailey in the passenger seat.

CJ Ellyson of West Virginia state police said Robida lived in West Virginia with Bailey, a mother of three boys, from sometime in 2004 to February 2005.

Three of Robida's friends listed on a home page the teen created on the website, MySpace.com, said Bailey was Robida's ex-girlfriend.

Cops seize Bailey's computer

Police said they were checking e-mails and internet correspondence between the two and had seized Bailey's computer.

Ellyson said: "We're trying to trace down their steps and find out when they hooked up, if she invited him over willingly or if she was abducted. We're trying to answer the unanswered questions."

Sergeant Jay Powers said there were no sign of forced entry at Bailey's home and no evidence of a struggle. Powers said her three children were with her mother.

Walsh, the Massachusetts prosecutor, said Bailey's childcare arrangements seemed to suggest she wasn't a hostage, but he said the investigation was ongoing.

Bailey had ended her relationship with Robida once she realised how disturbed he was, said the woman's friend, Craig Dickinson.

- AP