GASSVILLE, Ark. (AP) — The teenager suspected in a hatchet-and-gun attack inside a New England bar and in the killing of a policeman died yesterday after being wounded in a shootout with Arkansas officers.
Authorities think the teenager also killed a female acquaintance he had picked up while driving through West Virginia.
Jacob D. Robida, 18, died at Cox-South hospital in Springfield, Mo., hospital spokesman Randy Berger said.
Police said Robida, a high school dropout who had dabbled in Nazism, on Thursday attacked and injured three men in Puzzles Lounge, a tavern in New Bedford, Mass., frequented by homosexuals.
Police said Sunday that they were trying to determine what motivated Robida and whether he had any help. “By no means is the investigation over,” said New Bedford police Capt. Richard Spirlet.
After the New Bedford attack, police say, Robida picked up 33-year-old Jennifer Rena Bailey at her home in Charleston, W.Va.
“Apparently she’s had a prior relationship with this guy and had been corresponding with him. Other than that, we’re still in the dark about that,” West Virginia State Police Sgt. C.J. Ellyson said. “The extent of their relationship I don’t know.”
Mrs. Bailey was the mother of three children, the youngest of whom is 4. Sgt. Ellyson said the children were with relatives. He said Mrs. Bailey was either divorced or separated from her husband.
Capt. Spirlet said New Bedford investigators had been in contact with West Virginia authorities even before the killings and gunfight in Arkansas on Saturday, but he wouldn’t give details. “That’s part of the investigation,” he said.
On Saturday, as Robida and Mrs. Bailey drove through the northern Arkansas town of Gassville, Officer Jim Sell pulled them over in front of the Brass Door Motel and Restaurant for a traffic violation, investigators said. Robida killed the 56-year-old officer, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said.
In downtown Norfork, 20 miles away, Robida crashed after police set up spike strips that blew out the tires on his car. “When he wrecked, he started firing at our officer and a state police officer, and the officers returned fire,” said Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery.
Police shot Robida twice in the head, said Paul Walsh Jr., district attorney of Bristol, Mass. Mrs. Bailey was found dead in the car. Mr. Walsh said Robida killed her, but Mr. Sadler said ballistics tests would be needed to confirm how she died.
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