Kagom
Senior Member
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer
Sat Feb 4, 6:11 AM ET
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - As authorities searched for a teenager accused of going on a rampage at a gay bar with a hatchet and a gun, one victim was released from a hospital and returned to the nightspot.
Robert Perry appeared on television Friday night with a black right eye, a five-inch cut on his right cheek and a hole in the center of his back, where a bullet barely missed his spine and passed under his skin.
"What was going through my mind is that I was going to die soon. This is the end. I knew I was going to die," Perry said.
Jacob Robida, 18, was wanted in the attack Thursday at Puzzles Lounge that left three men wounded, one critically.
Perry, of Darthmouth, was discharged Friday from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Alex Taylor of Fairhaven remained at Massachusetts General Hospital, and officials would not disclose the whereabouts of the other victim, Luis Rosado of New Bedford. Their conditions were not disclosed, and it was not clear which one had been critically injured.
Police have labeled the attack a hate crime and said Robida would be charged with attempted murder, assault and civil rights violations.
Investigators released a 911 tape from the incident. Several loud pops that police said may be gunshots can be heard over the shouts of bar patrons and the voice of an unidentified woman who reported the attack.
Friends say Robida sometimes glorified Nazism and had a swastika tattoo but never previously expressed any prejudice toward gays.
Heather Volton, 22, of Fall River, said she has been friends with Robida for more than a year. She said he had a swastika on his hand, but "the kid never so much as raised his voice at me."
Another friend, Jennifer Crosby, 24, also of Fall River, identified herself as "part black and a lesbian" and said Robida never expressed any hostility toward gays.
Police said they were examining material Robida posted on his Internet home page. The site is full of references to a rap group called Insane Clown Posse, which is known for its explicit lyrics and sinister clown makeup. The band's label, Psychopathic Records, has a logo depicting the silhouette of a man wielding a hatchet.
A man who answered the door at Robida's mother's house Friday morning ordered reporters off the property.
Rep. Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record), an openly gay congressman whose district includes New Bedford, said the community has a history of tolerance. Frank pointed out that the city re-elected Gerry Studds in the 1980s after he became the first member of Congress to publicly announce he was gay.
"This is not some general problem with the people of New Bedford," Frank said. "This is one disturbed 18-year-old."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20060202/ap_on_re_us/gay_bar_shooting_1
Sat Feb 4, 6:11 AM ET
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - As authorities searched for a teenager accused of going on a rampage at a gay bar with a hatchet and a gun, one victim was released from a hospital and returned to the nightspot.
Robert Perry appeared on television Friday night with a black right eye, a five-inch cut on his right cheek and a hole in the center of his back, where a bullet barely missed his spine and passed under his skin.
"What was going through my mind is that I was going to die soon. This is the end. I knew I was going to die," Perry said.
Jacob Robida, 18, was wanted in the attack Thursday at Puzzles Lounge that left three men wounded, one critically.
Perry, of Darthmouth, was discharged Friday from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Alex Taylor of Fairhaven remained at Massachusetts General Hospital, and officials would not disclose the whereabouts of the other victim, Luis Rosado of New Bedford. Their conditions were not disclosed, and it was not clear which one had been critically injured.
Police have labeled the attack a hate crime and said Robida would be charged with attempted murder, assault and civil rights violations.
Investigators released a 911 tape from the incident. Several loud pops that police said may be gunshots can be heard over the shouts of bar patrons and the voice of an unidentified woman who reported the attack.
Friends say Robida sometimes glorified Nazism and had a swastika tattoo but never previously expressed any prejudice toward gays.
Heather Volton, 22, of Fall River, said she has been friends with Robida for more than a year. She said he had a swastika on his hand, but "the kid never so much as raised his voice at me."
Another friend, Jennifer Crosby, 24, also of Fall River, identified herself as "part black and a lesbian" and said Robida never expressed any hostility toward gays.
Police said they were examining material Robida posted on his Internet home page. The site is full of references to a rap group called Insane Clown Posse, which is known for its explicit lyrics and sinister clown makeup. The band's label, Psychopathic Records, has a logo depicting the silhouette of a man wielding a hatchet.
A man who answered the door at Robida's mother's house Friday morning ordered reporters off the property.
Rep. Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record), an openly gay congressman whose district includes New Bedford, said the community has a history of tolerance. Frank pointed out that the city re-elected Gerry Studds in the 1980s after he became the first member of Congress to publicly announce he was gay.
"This is not some general problem with the people of New Bedford," Frank said. "This is one disturbed 18-year-old."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20060202/ap_on_re_us/gay_bar_shooting_1
