Teen Goes on Rampage in Gay Bar

[Justin24]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060202/ap_on_re_us/gay_bar_shooting

3 Injured. 2 from Gun shots 1 from being struck by a hatchet.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I heard about that, if that isn't a hate crime then what the hell is?

I guess he's merely a "troubled teen" and that's why he specifically asked if it was a gay bar

 

[Justin24]

Yes it's a hate crime. But when are we as a civilization going to say screw what color we are, what sexual orientation we are, what religon we practice and get rid of all the different names for each other and say Jacob, julia, francisco, etc.. murdered a young man or woman. It's always White male, black female, hispanic male. Who gives a shit. We are "One" and that is Human Beings.
Question? If a Hispanic person kill's an african american it's not a hate crime, but if a white person kills a hispanic person it could be considered a "Hate Crime?"

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Question? If a Hispanic person kill's an african american it's not a hate crime

Who says it's not? I never hear anyone say that

And we can say screw all that when all people stop hating others who are "different" in some way. When will that happen? Most likely never. We have to call out bigotry, hatred, and racism whenever it exists, because maybe people will notice and actually learn. Pretending it doesn't exist will only make things worse.

 

[Justin24]

Who says it's not? I never hear anyone say that

I am not racist. But everytime in the news here.Suspect is a white male, police are looking at it as a hate crime. Do the police know it was racially motivated? What if it's just to people getting in an argument and the white person kills the hispanic person in a struggle? Yet label it as a hate crime.

 

[yolland]

What does race, or "just getting in an argument," have to do with any of this? This was about homophobia, plain and simple. Clearly this guy had no prior issues with any of the individuals in this bar. It is absolutely relevant that they were self-identified gays and he was not.

In Robida's bedroom, officers found Nazi regalia and anti-Semitic writings on the wall.

Well there you go Irvine. Connecting the dots for you... I guess it's no surprise that a neo-Nazi would be virulently homophobic as well. And a gay bar makes a nice, convenient, readily identifiable target.

I wonder what his parents knew or thought about his interests?

 

[martha]

What if it's just to people getting in an argument and the white person kills the hispanic person in a struggle? Yet label it as a hate crime.

Give us some examples of this.

 

[U2Girl1978]

God, I just saw this on the news. People completely suck! The suspect is on the run right now.

 

[U2Girl1978]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11146480/

He had nazi items in his home.

 

[MrBrau1]

His young teen ass will be the prime party spot on his cell block.

Kharma's a bitch.

 

[Zoomerang96]

haha, no kidding.

tis a bit ironic.

 

[yolland]

 

[yolland]

OK, maybe I was jumping to conclusions about his parents.

from the New Bedford Standard-Times
Mr. Robida lives at 613 County St. with his mother and siblings. His mother, Stephanie Oliver, has diabetes and is going blind, the neighbor said. The neighbor said the grandmother, Evelyn Oliver, who owns the white three-decker, takes her 13-year-old granddaughter to school everyday because the mother cannot drive. Stephanie Oliver is in her 40s and is frail and disabled, the neighbor said.

And a sad commentary on preceding context:

Some patrons said there has been occasional low-level harassment at the bar over the years.

Puzzles has been egged, cars parked outside have had windows smashed and teenagers have thrown rocks and bricks at the building's facade for years, said Dan Sheteron, 51, who lives upstairs. Anti-gay graffiti often defaces the building.

"This doesn't surprise me," Sheteron said of the attack. "It was either going to be this or a firebomb through the front window."

 

[verte76]

Ugh, what a disgusting person.

 

[MsGiggles]

It's just really sad that people that young are going on killing rampages - what could have happened in his life so early to make him do this?

 

[Irvine511]

perhaps going into a gay bar inspired some gay panic in him?

you know -- gay panic, when a straight person can become so offended or outraged by a sexual or romantic interest that is perceived to be gay that they are driven temporarily insane and commits an out-of-character act.

this was the logic the defense tried to use to get Matthew Shepard's murderers acquited, or at least a lighter sentence.

but perhaps i'm just being negative.

let's remember that under federal law, crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation are not hate crimes. not even a dead body tied to a fence in Laramie, WY could get Clinton enough votes to get it through Congress.

hate crimes are interesting, though. i have some ideological problems with them -- but if we are going to deem some crimes "hate crimes," then it seems as if sexual orientation belongs there.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Or maybe we should oppose all hate crime legislation with equal vigour and demand the equality of null.

 

[Irvine511]

Or maybe we should oppose all hate crime legislation with equal vigour and demand the equality of null.

that is the other option.

the discrimination, to me, lies in the apparent evidence that some groups of people are worthy of special consideration, and others are not.

but hate crimes legislation is another topic entirely. i can see both sides on this issue.

 

[daygloeyes2]

From the Boston globe.

In Robida's room at his mother's house, police yesterday found homemade posters slurring gays, African-Americans, and Jews; neo-Nazi literature and skinhead paraphernalia; a makeshift coffin; and an empty knife sheath, according to police, prosecutors, and court documents.

If this isn't proof it was a hate crime, I don't know what is.

 

[U2Girl1978]

^

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Boston Herald

"They’re no strangers to hateful comments, and most know people who’ve been assaulted for being gay, but the ferocity of the attack early yesterday morning in New Bedford stunned members of the local gay and lesbian community.

“It’s absolutely horrifying,” said Emily Pitt of Fenway Community Health’s violence recovery program, calling the brutal incident “another wake-up call.” In 2004, 105 violent hate crimes against gays and lesbians were reported to the center.

“I hope this type of tragedy makes people think about the added pressure gays and lesbians live with every day,” said Josh Friedes of the Freedom to Marry Coalition.

The FBI recorded 1,223 hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation in 2004.

“When the perpetrator goes looking for a victim of a particular identity, he isn’t just committing an assault against that person, but the whole community,” Pitt said."

 

[Carmelu2fan]

God, I just saw this on the news. People completely suck! The suspect is on the run right now.

He will get caught. I hope sooner than later. What type of parents would teach there child to hate in such a way?

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

The three victims were identified by police as Robert Perry of Dartmouth, Alex Taylor of Fairhaven, and Luis Rosado of New Bedford. Perry was discharged from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center yesterday, while Taylor was in stable condition at Massachusetts General Hospital. It wasn't clear yesterday where Rosado, who suffered a gunshot to the chest, was being treated.

Interviewed on Ch. 7 last night, Bob Perry, 52, a paramedic and father of four, said he received lacerations to the face with the hatchet and a bullet through his back.

''The hatchet came so fast that I don't think I had time to think, but when it hit my head all of a sudden, I said this is something really serious happening here," Perry said. ''What was going through my mind is: I'm going to be dead pretty soon. This is how it's going to end right here." He said that despite his injuries he intended to return to work Monday.

He added that his attacker's ''quietness was just stunning."

He said he lay still until the attacker left Puzzles Lounge. "I was afraid he would come back and hit me again and finish me off."

"My whole life I've dealt with issues of tolerance and I've struggled with this. I just wish people would understand that we're not bad people," he told the station.

''I've never been in a fight in my life," Perry said. ''I don't know anything about hate, and I don't understand where hate comes from."

Politicians and civil rights groups have expressed outrage over the attack, with activists and New Bedford residents staging a candlelight vigil outside the bar Thursday night.

Governor Mitt Romney joined the chorus of condemnation yesterday. ''All acts of violence are deplorable, particularly if they are motivated by hatred or bigotry," he said in a statement. ''My hope is that the perpetrator responsible for this heinous crime is held accountable for his actions."

“I feel bad for this kid. He has problems. I’m not saying I forgive him, but I’d like to learn how the hell he turned out like this,” Perry said of Robida. “I just won’t feel safe until he’s caught.”

 

[larryslass]

Have they caught him yet?

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

It just came on CNN that they got him in Arkansas after a shootout w/ State Police there

Come back and face your punishment you scum sucking piece of crap

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

NORFORK, Arkansas (AP) -- A police officer and a woman were shot to death Saturday in the minutes before authorities apprehended a teenager suspected of a rampage in a Massachusetts gay bar.

A police officer from the northern Arkansas town of Gassville was shot as he attempted to apprehend Jacob D. Robida, according to state police spokesman Bill Sadler.

The teen sped away and exchanged gunfire with police in nearby Norfork, where the 18-year-old was wounded and a female passenger was killed, Sadler said.

 

[U2Girl1978]

He ended up in Arkansas. Shot and killed a 63 yr old cop and a passenger he picked up in westford(?), MA. He was shot in the head twice and is now in critical condition.

Stupid piece of crap.

 

[Amigone]

I hope he makes it, and is incapacitated enough to never lead a meaningful life and is stuck between this and the next life for a very long time.

Alternatively I hope he ends up being fine, and jailed for a very long time.

 

[MrBrau1]

I hope he makes it, and is incapacitated enough to never lead a meaningful life and is stuck between this and the next life for a very long time.

Alternatively I hope he ends up being fine, and jailed for a very long time.

I hope he makes a full recovery so he can go to a nice fedral pen and be "violated" over, and over, and over.

 

[fly so high!]

I hope he makes a full recovery so he can go to a nice fedral pen and be "violated" over, and over, and over.

Maybe thats what made him loony in the first place, i can't imagine a young fella just to wake up way day and decide to mutilate people, this guy is messed up, for a reason!