20 Years Later: The Violent Year That Thrust New Bedford Bars Into a Tragic National Spotlight

Two violent attacks at New Bedford drinking establishments 20 years ago drew unwanted national attention to the city.

In 2006, the Whaling City was still trying to shake the image of the brutal 1983 sexual assault at Big Dan's Tavern, a case that thrust New Bedford into the international spotlight.

It would soon be back in that spotlight with a pair of high-profile violent attacks.

The Puzzles Lounge Hate Crime

The New Bedford Light remembers that on the night of Wednesday, February 1, 2006, "A 19-year-old neo-Nazi walked into Puzzles, a North End bar that had served as a warm haven for gay culture, asked, 'Is this a gay bar?' and nearly killed three people with a hatchet and gun."

Puzzles Lounge was on North Front Street. It was later known as The Rainbow's End before it permanently closed.

Google Maps

"Five days later, after a dogged pursuit across several states, the attacker (Jacob Robida) had killed an Arkansas police officer and a friend before being killed in a gunfight with police," the Light wrote.

Robida, born in Providence in 1987, attended Dartmouth High School and is buried in New Bedford.

A Community Shattered by Terror

I covered the attack as a radio reporter and a candlelight vigil that followed days later. I will never forget the stunned horror of those who were at Puzzles that night and throughout New Bedford's gay community.

Tragedy Strikes the Foxy Lady

Violence struck again later in the year as a gunman opened fire at another New Bedford bar.

The Associated Press reported, "Scott Medeiros slipped into the Foxy Lady strip club, carrying an assault rifle, jilted by a bartender he once dated, and apparently looking to settle a score."

Google Maps

The shooting occurred in the closing hours of Tuesday, December 12, 2006, at the bar on Route 6 at the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge.

"He killed another of the bartender's ex-boyfriends and the club's manager, and traded shots with police, wounding two officers in a gun battle before taking his own life," the AP reported. At least two bar patrons were injured in the shootout.

Medeiros, who was 35 at the time of the shootout, was from Freetown.

"One police cruiser was used as a rolling shield for people as they escaped the club across a parking lot," the AP wrote.

Both incidents occurred during the first year of Mayor Scott Lang's first term.