MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. (AP) – A teenager wanted in a hatchet and gun attack on customers at a New Bedford, Mass. gay bar died Sunday morning, leaving unresolved questions about a streak of violence that ended with the deaths of an Arkansas police officer and a West Virginia mother of three.

Jacob D. Robida, 18, died at 3:38 a.m. Sunday at Cox-South Hospital in Springfield, Mo., hospital spokesman Randy Berger said. State police and Baxter County officers mortally wounded Robida after he opened fire on officers who had chased him into downtown Norfork after the roadside shooting death of Gassville police officer Jim Sell.

New Bedford police had sought Robida in a Thursday morning attack at the Puzzles Lounge that left three men wounded, one critically. Police labeled the attack a hate crime and sought Robida for attempted murder, assault and civil rights charges.

Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler described a teenager determined to get away. Deputies and state troopers fired shotguns at Robida as he sped through the Arkansas hills at speeds in excess of 90 mph. Spike strips finally flattened two tires and slowed Robida’s green Pontiac to around 30 mph.

“The tires were deflating – at least two of the tires were now running on rims,” Sadler said at a Sunday news conference in which he laid out a timeline. “It was apparent he was losing control of the vehicle.”

Officers had a clear view of Robida and his passenger, Jennifer Rena Bailey, 33, of Charleston, W.Va., after Robida’s car spun nearly 180 degrees, crashing into a pair of parked cars.

“Investigators now believe Robida raised a handgun to the head of Bailey, fired, and it is believed she was killed instantly by that gunshot,” Sadler said. “Robida raised that same handgun and fired on the officers who were present at the scene. They returned fire.”

Robida shot and killed Sell, 63, on Saturday, triggering a 20-mile chase from Gassville to Norfork. Police set up road blocks and fired shotguns at Robida but couldn’t stop him until disabling his car, Sadler said.

It appeared Sell had no idea that he had pulled over the Massachusetts suspect while working a radar unit on the east side of Gassville while Robida was heading westbound. The green Pontiac bore Kentucky plates that hadn’t been reported stolen.

Lt. Bill Beach, a criminal investigator for the state police, said officers didn’t know who was in the car until after the chase – which went back eastbound after Sell’s traffic stop.

“The only information they had is what had happened at Gassville to the officer there,” Beach said. “It wasn’t until after the pursuit had terminated that they were able to identify the suspect.”

West Virginia State Police said Bailey apparently had corresponded with Robida over the Internet and in letters and that Robida had picked her up after the Massachusetts attack.

“How they met, we don’t have any idea at this point,” Sgt. C.J. Ellyson said. State police there were investigating whether Bailey went willingly with Bailey or was abducted.

Bailey’s youngest child is 4 and Ellyson said the children were with relatives. He did not know if Bailey was divorced or separated from her husband.

David Brown, chief investigator for the Greene County Medical Examiner’s office in Springfield, Mo., said Robida’s body was sent to Little Rock on Sunday. Brown said the Arkansas state medical examiner would perform autopsies on all three.

Sheriff John Montgomery said Sell was the first Baxter County officer killed in the line of duty since the late 1960s. Sell worked with the Blytheville police department for over 25 years before retiring as captain in 2000. He had been working with the Gassville force since 2003.

Montgomery is based in Mountain Home, which is about five miles from Gassville.

“We are a close-knit, small community,” Montgomery said. “I can tell you that even though it was not our officer, it was devastating for our department, like everyone else.”

It was unclear how or why Robida and Bailey traveled to Arkansas. Robida’s friends said they didn’t know him to hold animosity toward homosexuals, though police investigators said he dabbled in Nazism.

Had Robida survived the Arkansas shootout, he could have faced the death penalty.

Bob Perry, one of the bar patrons attacked, said before Robida’s death that he was hopeful Robida would survive.

“I’d like him to be able to regain consciousness and answer some questions,” Perry said Saturday. “I should have been dead 48 hours ago. I have so many questions.”