U of Alabama @ Hunstville shooting 2/12/10-Amy Bishop Anderson Sentenced LWOP

[trimmonthelake]

errrrrrrr.............. re: the incident 24 years ago.

3 shots fired.

deemed an accident

ummmm.....1 shot would be an accident, perhaps...but 3? I don't think so. 

Exactly.   

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/13/AR2010021300429.html
Accused Alabama prof shot, killed brother in 1986
By KRISTIN M. HALL and DESIREE HUNTER
The Associated Press
Saturday, February 13, 2010; 9:39 PM

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The professor accused of killing three colleagues during a faculty meeting was a Harvard-educated neurobiologist, inventor and mother whose life had been marred by a violent episode in her distant past.
More than two decades ago, police said Amy Bishop killed her teenage brother with a shotgun at their Massachusetts home in a shooting that investigators concluded was an accident.

Bishop had just months left teaching at the University of Alabama in Huntsville when police said she opened fire with a handgun Friday in a room filled with a dozen of her colleagues from the school's biology department.
Bishop, a rare woman suspected in a workplace shooting, was to leave after this semester because she had been denied tenure. Police say she is 42, but the university's Web site lists her as 44.

Some have said she was upset after being denied the job-for-life security afforded tenured academics, and the husband of one victim and one of Bishop's students said they were told the shooting stemmed from the school's refusal to grant her such status. Authorities have refused to discuss a motive, and school spokesman Ray Garner said the faculty meeting wasn't called to discuss tenure.

William Setzer, chairman of chemistry department at UAH, said Bishop was appealing the decision made last year.

"Politics and personalities" always play a role in the tenure process, he said. "In a close department it's more so. If you have any lone wolves or bizarre personalities, it's a problem and I'm thinking that certainly came into play here."

The three killed were Gopi K. Podila, the chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences, and two other faculty members, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson. The wounded were still recovering in hospitals early Saturday. Luis Cruz-Vera was in fair condition; Joseph Leahy in critical condition; and staffer Stephanie Monticciolo also was in critical condition.
Descriptions of Bishop from students and colleagues were mixed. Some saw a strange woman who had difficulty relating to her students, while others described a witty, intelligent teacher.

Students and colleagues described Bishop as intelligent, but someone who often had difficulty explaining difficult concepts.

Bishop was well-known in the research community, appearing on the cover of the winter 2009 issue of "The Huntsville R&D Report," a local magazine focusing on engineering, space and genetics.

However, it was unclear how many of her colleagues and students knew about a more tragic part of her past. Setzer, the chemistry chairman, and the university's police chief said they weren't aware of her brother's death until they were asked by reporters Saturday.
Continued here.....   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/13/AR2010021300429_2.html

[MuffyBee]

errrrrrrr.............. re: the incident 24 years ago.

3 shots fired.

deemed an accident

ummmm.....1 shot would be an accident, perhaps...but 3? I don't think so. 

I was thinking the same thing, but then I asked some folks that handle firearms a lot and they said if it was a pump action, NO WAY was it an accident in their opinion.  And then they said IF it was a semi-automatic it's "just possible".     Still sounds hinkey to me.   

[MuffyBee]

So, are the records missing or are they not?
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/02/professor_accus.html
<snip>
Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier confirmed today at a news conference that Amy Bishop had shot her brother in 1986. But Frazier offered a different account of the shooting, saying Bishop had shot her brother during an argument and was being booked by police when the chief at the time ordered the booking process stopped and Bishop released to her mother.

Frazier said he was basing his statements on the memories of one of his officers who was on the department at the time and had arrested Bishop. He said the records from the case have been missing since at least 1988.

"I don't want to use the word 'coverup' ... but this does not look good," he said.
<snip>

Or is it:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6866276.html
<snip>
But Frazier's account was disputed by former police Chief John Polio, who told The Associated Press he didn't call officers to tell them to release Bishop. "There's no cover-up, no missing records," he said.
<snip>

[MuffyBee]

And this has me really wondering if this is how a person would act if they shot someone accidentally:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/02/professor_accus.html
<snip>
But Frazier said the media had been fed an incorrect story. He said that there was an argument at the home on Hollis Avenue and Amy Bishop had fired three shots, including the fatal one, then fled the house and pointed the shotgun at a motorist in an attempted carjack. She was then arrested at gunpoint by officers.
<snip>

And it was decided this was an accident?  Amy Bishop shot her brother Seth 3 times with a 12 gauge and then ran out of the house, and tried to carjack someone?  Someone's got some splainin' to do, imo. 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/02/statement_from_32.html
(Video  with Ex-Chief in Article)
Two different views of a single tragedy
February 13, 2010 10:35 PM

Amy Bishop

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

On some things they agree: There was an argument. More than one shot was fired. Amy Bishop, who had fatally shot her brother, Seth, was found by officers outside the family home. She was sent home, rather than held in jail.
But a statement released by Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier and a State Police investigative report from more than 20 years ago released by the Norfolk district attorney's office differ widely in other respects -- and in the conclusions they draw.

Frazier, based upon the recollections of an officer involved in the case, said the girl had fought with her brother in the 1986 incident, then shot him with a shotgun and fled down the street with the rifle in her hand, at one point pointing it at a car to try to get it to stop. Later, at the station, Frazier said, the booking process was abruptly stopped and the young woman released.

Frazier said the release of Bishop had "frustrated" officers at the time and called the handling of the case "troubling."

"The release of Ms. Bishop did not sit well with the police officers and I can assure you that this would not happen in this day and age," Frazier said.
The State Police report, completed in March 1987 by Trooper Brian L. Howe, several months after the Dec. 6, 1986 incident, paints a different picture.

The argument was not between the brother and sister, it was between the sister and her father, the report said. The young woman told them that after the argument, she had decided to practice how to load a shotgun the family had bought for self-defense after a previous break-in.

She said she loaded it but had trouble unloading it and it accidentally went off in her bedroom. Still hoping to unload it, she said, she went downstairs to ask her brother to help her, accidentally shooting him. Her mother said she had witnessed the incident and generally corroborated her account.

The report said the girl was initially unable to provide information due to "her highly emotional state" so the investigators decided to let her and her parents go, with the plan of interviewing them later after they had "sufficient time to stabilize their emotions." When investigators did interview Bishop, "she reiterated adamantly that the discharge had been accidental," the report said.

Ultimately, the report concluded, based on the testimony of the family members, that the shooting was an accident and no further investigation was needed. The case was gradually forgotten until today, a day after Amy Bishop's alleged shooting rampage at the University of Alabama.

[Anna]

I remember someone asking one of the officials if the faculty members were given psychological testing and he said that an extensive background check was all that was done.

But in this instance, since it was ruled an accident, it wouldn't even show up!  Especially if somebody made the records disappear.  And maybe not that far back anyway.

Very troubling thought that we don't know who is teaching and working with our children in these crazy times.

This is just so totally strange.  I suppose she thought she couldn't get another job or something but to shoot not one but six people over it is beyond understanding.  Very troubled individual and from the student comments in those articles, some of her behavior went beyond eccentric.  I pity the kids that were in this nutcase's classes.

[Anna]

Parents who lose one child will often do everything they can to keep from losing another.  What I mean is in a case where one shoots the other, they will defend the shooter because if they are convicted, they lose both kids.

Sad, but sometimes true.

[Nut44x4]

Chief Frazier's statement on Amy Bishop
Saturday February 13, 2010

(NECN: Braintree, Mass.) - Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier issued a statement Saturday evening regarding Amy Bishop, the woman accused of shooting three colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Bishop, according to Chief Frazier, shot her brother in 1986 at the family's Braintree home. She was released from police custody before being booked.

State Police investigative report: '86 Bishop shooting [NECN] (article posted below)

Chief Frazier said he cannot find the police report and that it has been missing from the file for over 20 years. Former Police Chief John Polio denied a cover-up in the case. (article posted below)

Chief Frazier's entire statement reads as follows:

All of the charges contained in this news release are merely accusations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Comments from Chief Paul Frazier Regarding Amy Bishop

Good afternoon,

"The members of the Braintree Police Department extend their thoughts and prayers to the victims in the shooting incident which occurred at the University of Alabama, in Huntsville, Alabama as well as to their families and the members of the Huntsville Police Department who responded to and are investigating the incident."

"I have been in contact with the Huntsville Police Department to confirm that the suspect in their shooting had been involved in a shooting incident in Braintree 24 years ago. Their investigators will be back in touch with us within a couple of days."

"The suspect in the Huntsville shooting, Amy Bishop had been involved in a shooting incident in Braintree, Massachusetts in December of 1986. I located the Day Log from December of 1986 and found that the incident had occurred on December 6th. After finding the report number I looked in our archived files for the report. I was unable to locate the report."

"Officer Ronald Solimini informed me that he wrote the report and said that I wouldn't find it as it has been missing from the files for over 20 years. He said that former Police Chief Edward Flynn had looked for the report and that it was missing. He believes this was in 1988."

Officer Solimini recalled the incident as follows: He said he remembers that Ms. Bishop fired a round from a pump action shotgun into the wall of her bedroom. She had a fight with her brother and shot him, which caused his death. She fired a third round from the shotgun into the ceiling as she exited the home. She fled down the street with the shotgun in her hand. At one point she allegedly pointed the shotgun at a motor vehicle in an attempt to get the driver to stop. Officer Solimini found her behind a business on Washington Street. Officer Timothy Murphy was able to take control of the suspect at gunpoint and seized the shotgun. Ms. Bishop was subsequently handcuffed and transported to the police station under arrest."

"Officer Solimini informed me that before the booking process was completed Ms. Bishop was released from custody without being charged."

"I (Chief Frazier) spoke with the retired Deputy Chief who was then a Lieutenant and was responsible for booking Ms. Bishop. He said he had started the process when he received a phone call he believes was from then Police Chief John Polio or possibly from a captain on Chief Polio's behalf. He was instructed to stop the booking process. At some point Ms. Bishop was turned over to her mother and they left the building via a rear exit."

Braintree Police Lieutenant Karen MacAleese was a high school classmate and confirmed from photographs that the suspect is the same Amy Bishop who lived in Braintree.

"I was not on duty at the time of the incident, but I recall how frustrated the members of the department were over the release of Ms. Bishop. It was a difficult time for the department as there had been three (3) shooting incidents within a short timeframe. The release of Ms. Bishop did not sit well with the police officers and I can assure you that this would not happen in this day and age."

"It is troubling that this incident has come to light. I can assure you that the members of the Braintree Police Department maintain the highest of integrity. Since it was discovered this morning that the report is missing, I have been in contact with Mayor Joseph Sullivan. Mayor Sullivan and I have spoken with District Attorney William Keating and we will be meeting with him next week to discuss this situation. The Mayor supports a full review of this matter and agrees that we want to know where the records are."
http://www.necn.com/02/13/10/Chief-Fraziers-statement-on-Amy-Bishop/landing.html?blockID=180081&feedID=4215

[MuffyBee]

Chief Frazier's statement on Amy Bishop
Saturday February 13, 2010

(NECN: Braintree, Mass.) - Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier issued a statement Saturday evening regarding Amy Bishop, the woman accused of shooting three colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Bishop, according to Chief Frazier, shot her brother in 1986 at the family's Braintree home. She was released from police custody before being booked.

State Police investigative report: '86 Bishop shooting [NECN] (article posted below)

Chief Frazier said he cannot find the police report and that it has been missing from the file for over 20 years. Former Police Chief John Polio denied a cover-up in the case. (article posted below)

Chief Frazier's entire statement reads as follows:

All of the charges contained in this news release are merely accusations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Comments from Chief Paul Frazier Regarding Amy Bishop

Good afternoon,

"The members of the Braintree Police Department extend their thoughts and prayers to the victims in the shooting incident which occurred at the University of Alabama, in Huntsville, Alabama as well as to their families and the members of the Huntsville Police Department who responded to and are investigating the incident."

"I have been in contact with the Huntsville Police Department to confirm that the suspect in their shooting had been involved in a shooting incident in Braintree 24 years ago. Their investigators will be back in touch with us within a couple of days."

"The suspect in the Huntsville shooting, Amy Bishop had been involved in a shooting incident in Braintree, Massachusetts in December of 1986. I located the Day Log from December of 1986 and found that the incident had occurred on December 6th. After finding the report number I looked in our archived files for the report. I was unable to locate the report."

"Officer Ronald Solimini informed me that he wrote the report and said that I wouldn't find it as it has been missing from the files for over 20 years. He said that former Police Chief Edward Flynn had looked for the report and that it was missing. He believes this was in 1988."

Officer Solimini recalled the incident as follows: He said he remembers that Ms. Bishop fired a round from a pump action shotgun into the wall of her bedroom. She had a fight with her brother and shot him, which caused his death. She fired a third round from the shotgun into the ceiling as she exited the home. She fled down the street with the shotgun in her hand. At one point she allegedly pointed the shotgun at a motor vehicle in an attempt to get the driver to stop. Officer Solimini found her behind a business on Washington Street. Officer Timothy Murphy was able to take control of the suspect at gunpoint and seized the shotgun. Ms. Bishop was subsequently handcuffed and transported to the police station under arrest."

"Officer Solimini informed me that before the booking process was completed Ms. Bishop was released from custody without being charged."

"I (Chief Frazier) spoke with the retired Deputy Chief who was then a Lieutenant and was responsible for booking Ms. Bishop. He said he had started the process when he received a phone call he believes was from then Police Chief John Polio or possibly from a captain on Chief Polio's behalf. He was instructed to stop the booking process. At some point Ms. Bishop was turned over to her mother and they left the building via a rear exit."

Braintree Police Lieutenant Karen MacAleese was a high school classmate and confirmed from photographs that the suspect is the same Amy Bishop who lived in Braintree.

"I was not on duty at the time of the incident, but I recall how frustrated the members of the department were over the release of Ms. Bishop. It was a difficult time for the department as there had been three (3) shooting incidents within a short timeframe. The release of Ms. Bishop did not sit well with the police officers and I can assure you that this would not happen in this day and age."

"It is troubling that this incident has come to light. I can assure you that the members of the Braintree Police Department maintain the highest of integrity. Since it was discovered this morning that the report is missing, I have been in contact with Mayor Joseph Sullivan. Mayor Sullivan and I have spoken with District Attorney William Keating and we will be meeting with him next week to discuss this situation. The Mayor supports a full review of this matter and agrees that we want to know where the records are."
http://www.necn.com/02/13/10/Chief-Fraziers-statement-on-Amy-Bishop/landing.html?blockID=180081&feedID=4215

Thanks Nut.  This told me what I wanted to know. Pump-Action.  Fired three shots in the home, one which killed her brother.  Amy Bishop had to pump that shot gun each and every time she fired it.  The shot fired into the ceiling on the way out speaks volumes, imo.  If shooting her brother has somehow been a terrible accident, wouldn't she have laid the 12 gauge down?  Not go shoot it again?  She sounds to me like she was pizzed, not sad or horrified.  JMHO

[trimmonthelake]

Alleged University Shooter Was Suspect in Harvard Professor Bomb Attempt
Sunday, February 14, 2010
 An Alabama professor accused of shooting six colleagues was a suspect in the attempted mailing bombing of a Harvard Medical School professor in December of 1993, the Boston Globe reported.

Amy Bishop and her husband James Anderson were questioned by authorities after a package with two bombs were sent to Dr. Paul Rosenberg, the newspaper reported.

When Rosenberg saw the long, thin package had wires and a cylinder inside, he and his wife called police and ran from their Newton, Mass. home Dec. 19, 1993, the Globe reported.

Two 6-inch pipe bombs connected to two nine-volt batteries were found in the package.

The new information comes a day after information surfaced that Bishop killed her brother. The 1986 shooting was ruled accidental and no charges were filed against her.
Bishop, who has four children, was arrested soon after the violent Friday shooting and charged with capital murder. Other charges are pending. Her husband was detained and questioned by police but has not been charged.

Three of her colleagues were killed in shooting, and a 9 mm handgun was found in the bathroom of the building where the shootings occurred.
Bishop, a rare woman suspected of a workplace shooting, had just months left teaching at the University of Alabama in Huntsville because she was denied tenure.

Several months after a federal investigation into the Harvard medical professor's attempted bombing a prime suspect was identified, but never named.

But, an unnamed law enforcement official told the Globe Sunday the suspect was Bishop, and her husband.

At the time, Bishop was a Harvard doctoral student working at the same hospital Rosenberg was.

The official told the Globe Bishop was suspected because she was allegedly concerned she was going to be given a bad evaluation from to professor on her doctorate work.

Her house was searched and she and her husband were questioned, but the U.S. attorney's office in Boston never brought charges against the couple, the Globe reported.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585854,00.html?test=latestnews

    Wow.

[MuffyBee]

    I wonder what else there is that could be told about Amy Bishop?   

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7026844.ece
February 15, 2010
Shooting spree professor Amy Bishop ‘was let off for killing brother’
A Harvard-educated professor who went on a shooting rampage at the University of Alabama may have escaped charges for the killing of her teenage brother in 1986 because of a police cover-up.

Amy Bishop, a 42-year-old neurobiologist, could face the death penalty for allegedly shooting dead the chairman of the biology department and two other professors on Friday after being denied a permanent university post. Two professors and an assistant were wounded.

The shooting has prompted police to reopen the case of her younger brother’s death in 1986
<snipped>

[trimmonthelake]

  I wonder what else there is that could be told about Amy Bishop?   

I don't know.It will be interesting to see what comes of this.
After my sidekick gets his turn on the laptop I will be doing some searching.      

[MuffyBee]

  I wonder what else there is that could be told about Amy Bishop?   

I don't know.It will be interesting to see what comes of this.
After my sidekick gets his turn on the laptop I will be doing some searching.      

It will be interesting to see what you might dig up 

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585823,00.html
RAW DATA: 1986 Police Report on Shooting Involving Alabama Professor

Sunday, February 14, 2010
 March 30, 1987

To: First Assistant District Attorney John P. Kivlan

From: Trooper Brian L. Howe #1332 BLH

Subject: Accidental Shooting of Seth Bishop, White Male,

D.O.B. 4/9/68 At 46 Hollis Avenue, Braintree, Massachusetts on December 6, 1986.

Case: # 86-112-0910-0185

On December 6, 1986, this officer was directed by Detective Lieutenant James Sharkey to conduct an investigation into the fatal shooting of Seth Bishop at his residence of 46 Hollis Avenue in the Town of Braintree.

This officer contacted Captain Theodore Buker of the Braintree Police Department and was informed by Captain Buker that at approximately 1422 hours on December 6, 1986, the Braintree Police Department had responded to the report of a shooting a 46 Hollis Avenue in their town.

Upon arriving at the location, Officers Jordan and Murphy had observed the decedent lying on his back on the floor in a pool of blood in the kitchen area, with a large chest wound.

Paramedics responded to the scene and after administering preliminary first aid, transported the victim to the Quincy City Hospital where he was subsequently pronounced dead at 1506 hours, by Dr. Thomas Divinigracia. Initial cause of death of a victim was reported to be a ruptured aorta as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Captain Buker stated that preliminary investigation conducted by Officers Jordan and Murphy indicated that the victim had been shot by his sister, Amy Bishop (age 19), and that apparent cause of the gunshot discharge into the victim had been accidental in nature. Captain Buker further stated that indications were that Amy Bishop had been attempting to manipulate the shotgun and had subsequently brought the gun downstairs in an attempt to gain assistance from her mother in disarming the weapon.
During her attempt to disarm the weapon in the kitchen of her residence, the weapon had apparently accidentally discharged, resulting in the fatal wound inflicted upon her brother.

Captain Buker further stated that at the time the discharge occurred, Judy Bishop, the mother of both the victim and Amy, had been in the kitchen and had witnessed the entire incident. Judy Bishop had indicated to the responding officers that the discharge had been accidental in nature and that the discharge had occurred while Amy was attempting to unload the weapon.

Captain Buker also stated that Amy Bishop had fled the residence immediately upon discharging the weapon and had subsequently been located by Braintree Officers and brought to the Braintree Police Department for questioning.

Captain Buker stated that due to the highly emotional state of Amy Bishop, it had generally been impossible to question her while she was at the Braintree Police Department relative to the circumstances of the firearm discharge, and that as a result of these facts, she was thereupon released to the custody of her parents with further investigation to follow at a future time.

This officer therefor determined that due to the inability to question the witnesses at that time as a result of their highly emotional state and their inability to recall specifically the facts relating to this occurrence, as well as the fact that Judy Bishop stated that she had witnessed the entire affair and the discharge had been accidental in nature, it was determined that additional interviews would be conducted at a later time, allowing the witnesses a sufficient time to stabilize their emotions.

On December 6, 1986, an autopsy was conducted on Seth bishop at the Qyuincy City Hospital by Dr. George Katsas with Dr. William Riddle in attendance. The autopsy began at approximately 2000 hours with the cause of death having been determined to be the result of a shotgun discharge to the left chest area.

It should also be noted that a check of firearms identification cards at Braintree Police Department indicated and F.I.D. card issued to Seth bishop, card #H590682, as well as n F.I.D. card issued to Samuel Bishop father of SEth, card #H590724.
Captain Buker had also indicated to this officer that numerous photographs had been taken at the scene of the shooting as well as at the autopsty coundcted on the victim.

The weapon which had been utilized in the death of Seth Bishop had been secured by the Braintree Police Department for firther processing by the State Police Ballistics Laboratory.

Arrangements were subsequently made to conduct interviews of all of the members of the Bishop family and thereupon, on December 17, 1986, this officer, Captian Theodore Buker and Detective Michael Carey of the Braintree Police Department procdeede to 46 Hollis Avenue in the Town of Braintree.

Individually, Samuel, Judy, and Amy Bishop were interviewed by these officers with the resulting statments taken.

Samuel Bishop stated that he had not been in the residence at the time of the shooting, He said that he had left the house at approximately 1130 hours to go shopping at the South Shore Plaza. He stated that at the time he left the residence, his son Seth had been washing his car, Amy was the house and his wife, Judy, was due to be home at sometime between 1100 and 1200 hours. Samuel stated that he had a disagrrment with Amy before he left about a comment that she made, and that she had gone to her room prior to his departing. He stated that upon his return to the residence, police and ambulance were at the house and that he was adivsed of the situation relating to the shooting of his son.

When questioned as to the actual possession of the shotgun within his residence, he stated that he had bought the shotgun at Coleman's Sporting Goods in Canton, approximately one year previously, and that he and his son, Seth, had belonged to the Braintree Rifle Club. He stated that the gun had been unloaded, on top of a trunk in a rifle case in his upstairs bedroom also. He further stated that Amy had not been trained in the use of the weapon and that the weapon had orginally been purchased for family protection as a result of a previous housebreak at their residence.
These officer then interviewed Judy Bishop, the mother of the victim who stated that on the day of the shooting, she had left the house at approximately 0700 hours and that ll other family members had been in the house at the time. She stated that she returned to the residence to see if there was anything for lunch, and that at this time, Seth was home and stated that he would go to the store to pick up some food so that they could all have lunch.

Judy further stated that Seth returned from the grocery store, went into the livingroom and turned on television. She stated that he was on his way into the kitchen when Amy came downstairs with the shotgun, and asked Judy if she could help her unload the gun. Judy state that she told Amy not to point the gun at anyone, and that Amy then turned, and in doing so, somehow discharged the weapon which subsequently hit her son Seth who was walking into the kitchen from the living room.

Judy stated that she screamed and theupon Amy ran out of the house. Judy state that she then called the police and waited at the front door fo the arrival of the police, but she further added that she knew that Seth could not live as the result of the injury which he had received.

When questioned relative to any prior discharges of the weapon inside the residence on the day in question, Judy stated that she did not hear any other shots fired, in particular, and shots fired in the upstairs bedroom, but she believed that the house was realtively well soundproofed and that such a discharge would not necessarily be hear on another floor of the house.

Judy state that she did not feel that she had any knowledge of any other relvant facts relating to the investigation to convey to these officers.

These officers then conducted an interview with Amy Bishop who stated that on the morning of the shooting, her mother had gone out and that her father had gone shopping. Amy stated that she did not know where her brother was during the day but thought that it would be a good idea if she learned how to load the shotgun in the house. Amy stated that she was concerned for her own safety on occasions as a result of the break which had previously occurred at their home, and she often read and heard of stories about things that happened when people break into houses and find other people inside.
Amy stated that she got the gun from her parents' room where she found it on the chest and the bullets were on the bureau. She stated that she put the shells into the gun and then tried to get them out but was unsuccessful in doing this even though she attempted to unscrew the bottom casing of the gun. She stated that while she was attempting to unload the weapon which was on her bed, it discharged into her room, but that she is unsure as whether or not her bedroom door was open at the time. She stated that she was beside her bed near the door at the time that the gun discharged, but that she couldn't specifically recall seeing anything coming out of the gun.

Amy further stated that she does not recall putting any additional bullets into the gun after it discharged, and that she then unscrewed the bottom of the shaft in an attempt to empty the weapon, and when being unable to empty the weapon this way, she stated that she then screwed the bottom of the shaft back on.

Amy stated that she then heard her brother come into the house downstairs and she went right downstairs to ask Seth to help her unload the gun. She said apparently her mother had been in the kitchen for awhile and that Amy went down the front set of stairs, through the dining room, to the door by the kitchen. She stated that she asked her brother to unload the weapon because she thought it might still be loaded and she added that her mother said something to her but she does not specifically recall what it was.

Amy said that she was carrying the gun pointed beside her leg, and that Seth told her to point the gun up. Amy stated that Seth was walking across the kitchen between Amy and her mother and that Amy had the gun in one hand and started to raise it. Amy further stated that someone said something to her and she turned and the gun went off. She stated that she remembered her brother saying, "Oh God," and her mother screaming, and that Amy though that she had ruined the kitchen but was not aware of the fact that she had struck her brother with the shotgun discharge.
Amy stated that she then immediately ran out the rear door of the kitchen and thought that she had dropped the gun as she ran away. She stated that at the time the gun went off, she was by the dining room door to the kitchen. Amy also said that she does not recall putting on a jacket prior to running out of the house or leaving the house with the gun and that she cannot recall anything else until she subsequently saw her mother at the police station.

Amy did tell these officers that her brother Seth had verbally told her previously how to hold the gun but that she had always previously been afraid of it. Amy concluded the investigation by saying that she had previously made no attempt to cover up the hole in her bedroom wall which apparently, according to her, was the result of the previous discharge in her bedroom.

Amy stated that she was not aware of any additional facts which could assist these officers in their investigation into the death of her brother, and she reiterated adamantly that the discharge had been accidental and that she was still having a very difficult time dealing with what had occurred and was currently under medication with a doctor's care.

As a result of these foregoing facts, a meeting was conducted between this officer, Captain Buker and Detective Carey. It was determined that due to the testimony of the members of the Bishop family and, in particular, to the testimony of Judy Bishop relevant to the facts concerning the death of Seth Bishop that no further investigation into the death of Seth Bishop was warranted.

It was therefore determined that the cause of death of Seth Bishop would be listed as the accidental discharge of his sister, Amy Bishop, and that the investigation would be concluded.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.decaturdaily.com/detail/53564.html
 2/14/10 |   5 comments
Colleague says suspect ‘aloof, superior’
By Eric Fleischauer
Staff Writer
The UAH professor accused of killing three colleagues Friday once called herself aloof, arrogant and superior, and a colleague did not disagree.

Psychology professor Eric Seemann also said he knew biological sciences assistant professor Amy Bishop was stressed about an adverse tenure decision, but he was shocked at how she dealt with her frustration.

Bishop, also referred to as Amy Bishop-Anderson by authorities, has been charged with capital murder. She is accused of killing three professors in her department — including department chair Gopi Podila — and wounding two professors and a staff member who were attending a faculty meeting.
‘Personal beef’

“What she told me was there were some people in her department — she did not name them — who had a personal beef with her,” Seemann said. “She said one or more of those people were directly involved with her tenure decision.”

Seemann said he had no clue Bishop’s frustration would lead her to the alleged shootings.

“She was sounding a little paranoid. I’m not sure she was taking responsibility for her part in the tenure decisions,” Seemann said of a conversation he had with her in November.

Seemann joined the faculty of the University of Alabama in Huntsville’s psychology department the same year Bishop joined its biological sciences department. Both were eligible for tenure in March 2009.

‘Not on list’

“They sent out the letter of everyone that was tenured,” Seemann said. “Amy’s name was not on the list.”

Bishop told Seemann she had hired attorneys to appeal the adverse decision, but in December she told him she was frustrated at her attorneys’ lack of progress.

The psychology professor said his counseling and forensics practices have exposed him to plenty of people with inclinations toward violence, but he saw no such signs in Bishop. He watched media reports as the public tried to understand what had happened.
How could this be?’

“I’m thinking, wow, who could this be? My thinking was some student went crackers and shot up a bunch of people for various reasons.

“Then they said it was a female, and I’m thinking it’s a female student who shot a bunch of people because of a lover’s triangle. Then they say a female staff member, and I’m thinking, ‘Who could that be?’ ”

Only when he heard the next report did it occur to him.

“Then they said biological sciences, and I thought, oh crap, it’s Amy Bishop. Because she’s the only one I knew in biological sciences that was under a tenure constraint.”

Bishop, who is in her 40s and the mother of four, was seen as an excellent researcher. Seemann said her dealings with other faculty members, however, hampered her efforts at tenure.

‘Given a raw deal’

“I saw her at a spring (2009) orientation for the new freshmen,” Seemann said. “She said she was not tenured and she felt like she had been given a raw deal.”

Despite her excellent research ability, Seemann was not surprised she struggled to obtain tenure.

“Amy was kind of hard to get along with,” he said. “I’ve talked to people who said, ‘Wow, she can be really arrogant,’ or be really headstrong. I knew that to be true. But at the same time she was brilliant. She was really one of UAH’s rising research stars. People I know in biological sciences would say, ‘She’s a great researcher, but she’s lousy to work with.’ ”

She was brilliant and she knew it.

“At one meeting I was with Amy, she was complaining to a group of us. She said she was denied tenure not because she was a lousy researcher — she’s not, quite the opposite — and not because she didn’t have good classes, she believed she did — I think some might say otherwise — but because she was accused of being arrogant, aloof and superior. And she said, ‘I am.
She said, ‘I am arrogant, I am aloof and I am superior in my attitude. But it doesn’t mean I don’t want to get along with people.’ ”

Seemann’s recollection of his frequent dealings with Bishop continued the theme.

‘I was arrogant’

“During a conversation she and I had at one point, she said she got into an argument with another faculty member who accused her of being arrogant and acting like she was better than him, and she told me, ‘That’s because I was arrogant and I was better than him.’ But that was in the context of a heated argument,” Seemann said.

“I think Amy was a little easy to provoke.”

He said his impression was students tried to avoid taking her classes.

“The comments I heard from students over the last several years was that she was brilliant, but she couldn’t teach and she’s was not personable.”

Seemann suspects Bishop had an unrealistic view of the likelihood of a successful appeal of her tenure denial.

Appealed decision

“Amy told me in November that she filed an appeal through the university and had retained an attorney. The appeal was based on her belief that somebody had a personal gripe with her on the tenure committee, and that she asked that the person or persons — there may have been more than one — be removed,” Seemann recalled.

“That request was denied. The appeal went through the appeals process. Amy told me she believed that there was a good chance of the appeal working.”

Despite her expressed hopes, Seemann said tenure denials rarely get reversed.

Seemann stressed he did not know what happened at Friday’s biology faculty meeting before Bishop allegedly began shooting, but he knew the deadline for final decisions on tenure appeals was nearing.
“I do not believe that a faculty would tell one person in front of other people, ‘By the way you’re not getting tenure, clean out your office.’ I can’t imagine that’s what happened. My guess is that Amy probably pushed the issue.

“I’ve seen her do that before, where she would ask a question, someone would say let’s discuss it later, and she would just become more insistent until someone said either just shut up or here it is, and it’s not what you wanted.

“I don’t know it for a fact, but I’m guessing she pushed the issue.”

Remains stunned

Seemann said he remains stunned by the shooting.

“Nowhere in any of my discussions with her did I get the idea that she was violent or that she had this inclination to bring a pistol to a meeting,” Seemann said. Behind the most tragic loss in Friday’s shootings — the death of three faculty members and the wounding of three others — is another tragedy, Seemann said.

“It’s not like she would never have another job,” Seemann said. “With the research she did, there are other universities that, if she threw her hat in the air, they’d be lining up to hire her.

“She’s not some random schmuck. She’s Harvard educated. She could have doubled her salary going to these other schools. For whatever reason, she was so ego-invested that not being here was intolerable.”

[MuffyBee]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/02/braintree_promi_1.html
Braintree promises search for records in Bishop case

 February 14, 2010 06:34 PM
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The mayor of Braintree said today that the town and its police department would work with the Norfolk County district attorney's office to locate all materials relating to the 1986 fatal shooting by Amy Bishop of her brother, Seth Bishop, a case that is drawing new interest because Amy Bishop was charged with shooting six people on Friday in Alabama.

The town and the police recognize "the importance of transparency ... The Braintree Police Department will conduct a thorough audit of all its records to identify if there were deficits in its past record keeping process," Mayor Joseph C. Sullivan said today in a statement.

The statement came after Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier on Saturday raised troubling questions about the handling of the case in his town, saying that a police report on the Dec. 6, 1986 shooting was missing and that the officer who prepared it remembered the shooting as happening during an argument, even though the State Police later ruled it was an accident.

More than two decades later, Amy Bishop now stands accused of shooting six of her colleagues – three of them fatally – at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Sullivan promised that the results of the review would be shared with the public and with law enforcement agencies.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/us/15alabama.html
Murder Suspect Was Questioned in Plot Against Professor
 
By SHAILA DEWAN and KATIE ZEZIMA
Published: February 14, 2010
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The husband of a neuroscientist accused of fatally shooting three colleagues and wounding three others on Friday said he did not know she had a gun when she went to a faculty meeting that day, nor did he know how she got it. And he also confirmed that the two were questioned in a 1993 bomb plot against a Harvard professor.
The husband, James Anderson, speaking for a few minutes outside his door on Sunday afternoon, said he had “no idea” that his wife, Amy Bishop, took the gun to the campus on Friday, saying, “We don’t own one.”

Mr. Anderson said the family’s lawyer had instructed him not to speak with reporters about his wife and that he needed to get back to the couple’s four children.

But, he said, “She was a loved teacher, everybody loved her. They gave her high marks.”

The Boston Globe reported on Sunday that the couple had been questioned in the 1993 mail bombing plot against Dr. Paul Rosenberg, a Harvard Medical School professor.

But Mr. Anderson said the couple had been cleared in the pipe bomb investigation. “We were not suspects,” he said. “They questioned everybody that ever knew this guy.”

Mr. Anderson said that he had already told the Huntsville police that they might come across the incident during their investigation.

“That was a disaster,” he said of the investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “That was a mess. In my files I have a letter from the A.T.F. saying, ‘You are hereby cleared in this incident. You are no longer a subject of the investigation.’ ”

The Globe said investigators searched Dr. Bishop’s and Mr. Anderson’s home, but the United States Attorney’s office did not seek any charges against them, and no one was ever charged in the case. Dr. Rosenberg was not harmed, having fled his house after spotting wires and a cylinder on the package.

Sylvia Fluckiger, who worked as a lab technician at Children’s Hospital with Dr. Bishop and Dr. Rosenberg, said she had talked to Dr. Bishop about the Rosenberg investigation. She said Dr. Bishop “had a smirk on her face” when asked about the incident. “I don’t know why she was smirking — it was a funny expression on her face,” she said.

“We did know that there was a dispute between Paul Rosenberg and her,” Ms. Fluckiger said, adding that she couldn’t remember what it was about.

On Saturday, the police in Huntsville charged Dr. Bishop, 45, with capital murder in the shootings Friday that also left three people wounded during a faculty meeting. Dr. Bishop, who appeared to have had a promising future in the biotechnology business, had recently been told she would not be granted tenure, university officials said.

The latest revelations about the 1993 plot came after word that Dr. Bishop was linked to another death.

On Saturday afternoon, the police in Braintree, Mass., announced that 24 years ago, Dr. Bishop had fatally wounded her brother, Seth Bishop, in an argument at their home, which The Boston Globe first reported on its Web site. The police were considering reopening the case, in which Dr. Bishop was not charged and the report by the officer on duty at the time was no longer available, said Paul Frazier, the Braintree police chief.

“The release of Ms. Bishop did not sit well with the police officers,” Chief Frazier said in a statement, “and I can assure you that this would not happen in this day and age.” He said at a news conference on Saturday that the original account describing the shooting as an accident had been inaccurate and, The Globe said, that while he was reluctant to use the word “cover-up,” it did not “look good” that the detailed records of the case have been missing since 1988.

Dr. Bishop, a grant-winning scientist and mother of four, is now charged with murder. If convicted, she would be eligible for the death penalty in Alabama.

Dr. Bishop was part of a biotechnology start-up that had won an early round of financing in a highly competitive environment, but people who knew her said she had learned shortly before the shooting that she had been denied tenure at the university.

Mr. Anderson said Sunday that Dr. Bishop’s tenure appeal had been upheld by the review board, but the university administration had overruled the board’s finding. “She won her appeal,” he said, “and the provost canned it.”

He said his wife’s research was generating “millions” for the university, that she had published numerous papers, and was a good professor. “She exceeded the qualifications for tenure,” he said. “The review board said ‘grant it, or go through the process again.’”

The lawyer his wife hired “was finding one problem after another with the process,” he said, and there was a dispute over whether two papers had been published in time to count.

On Friday, Dr. Bishop presided over her regular anatomy and neurosciences class before going to an afternoon faculty meeting on the third floor of the Shelby Center for Science and Technology.

There she sat quietly for about 30 or 40 minutes, said one faculty member who had spoken to some of the dozen people who were in the room. Then Dr. Bishop pulled out a 9-millimeter handgun and began shooting, firing several rounds, the police said. At least one person in the room tried to stop Dr. Bishop and prevent further bloodshed, said Sgt. Mark Roberts of the Huntsville Police Department.

Dr. Bishop stopped shooting when the gun either jammed or ran out of ammunition, the faculty member said.

After Dr. Bishop left the room, the police said, she dumped the gun — for which she did not have a permit — in a second-floor bathroom. The people still in the conference room barred the door, fearing she would return, the faculty member said.

Dr. Bishop was arrested outside the building minutes later, Sergeant Roberts said at a morning news conference on Saturday.

The 911 call came at 4:10 p.m., the authorities said. Few students were in the building, and none were involved in the shooting, said Ray Garner, a university spokesman. At the time, Dr. Bishop’s husband, James Anderson, was across the street from the campus, where he worked at the start-up company, Prodigy Biosystems, said Dick Reeves, the company chairman. He left to pick up his wife, apparently having no idea what had happened, Mr. Reeves said.

Officials said the dead were all biology professors: G. K. Podila, the department’s chairman, who is a native of India, according to a family friend who answered the phone at his house; Maria Ragland Davis; and Adriel D. Johnson Sr. Two other biology professors, Luis Rogelio Cruz-Vera and Joseph G. Leahy, as well as a professor’s assistant, Stephanie Monticciolo, were at Huntsville Hospital. Mr. Cruz-Vera was in fair condition; the others were in critical condition.

Mr. Garner said Dr. Bishop, who arrived in the 2003-4 academic year, was first told last spring that she had been denied tenure. If a tenure-track professor is not granted tenure after six years, the university will no longer employ them, Mr. Garner said. This would have been the final semester of Dr. Bishop’s sixth year.

The university does have an appeals process, and people who knew Dr. Bishop said she had appealed the decision.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35397792/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Accused shooter linked to Harvard bomb plot
More details emerge from Alabama professor’s past linking her to case

msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 2 hours, 25 minutes ago

The scientist who is accused of killing three colleagues at the University of Alabama had been a key suspect in an attempted bomb plot at Harvard in 1993, police officials told The Boston Globe on Sunday.

Authorities questioned Amy Bishop and her husband, James Anderson, in March 1993 after a bomb-laden package was delivered to a Harvard professor and doctor at Boston's Children's Hospital, the Globe reported.

The plot was the latest revelation linking Bishop to past investigations. Bishop is accused of shooting to death three colleagues during a faculty meeting on the University of Alabama's Hunstville, Ala. campus on Friday.
Bishop, who has four children, was arrested soon after the shooting and charged with capital murder. Other charges are pending. Her husband was detained and questioned by police but has not been charged.

In 1986, Bishop shot and killed her 18-year-old brother with a shotgun at their Braintree, Mass., home. She told police at the time that she had been trying to learn how to use the gun, which her father had bought for protection, when it accidentally discharged.

Authorities released her and said the episode was a tragic accident. She was never charged, though police Chief Paul Frazier on Saturday questioned how the investigation was handled.

Bomb sent to doctor
In the Harvard plot, a police official told the Globe that Bishop's name surfaced as a suspect because she was allegedly concerned about getting a negative evaluation on her doctorate work from Dr. Paul Rosenberg.

During the initial investigation, Rosenberg told police that he had received a thin, long package addressed to him and soon discovered that was filled with wires and a cylinder, according to the Globe.

The package had contained two pipe bombs, which were hooked up two nine-volt batteries, the Globe reported.

During a search of Bishop's computer, investigators discovered a draft of a story that Bishop had written about a female scientist who had killed her brother and was hoping to find redemption in life my becoming a great scientist, the Globe reported.

Bishop and her husband were never charged in the Harvard plot.

'It was just a normal day'
Back in Alabama, some of Bishop's colleagues, including William Setzer, chairman of the department of chemistry, told The Associated Press they did not know about Bishop's past.

Alabama police said the gun she is accused of using in Friday's shooting was not registered, and investigators don't know how or where she got it.

Just after the shooting, her husband James Anderson told the Chronicle, she called and asked him to pick her up. She never mentioned the shooting, he said.

Anderson said his wife had an attorney but would not say who it was. He declined further comment to The Associated Press on Sunday. However, he told the Chronicle of Higher Education earlier in the day that he had no idea his wife had a gun — nor did he know of any threats or plans to carry out the shooting when he dropped her off at the faculty meeting Friday.

Even in the days and hours before the shooting, Bishop's friends, colleagues and students said she was acting like the intelligent — but odd — professor they knew.

UAH student Andrew Cole was in Bishop's anatomy class Friday morning and said she seemed perfectly normal. Kourtney Lattimore, 19, a sophomore studying nursing who had Bishop for anatomy and physiology courses, said she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"She was fine. It was a normal day," Lattimore said.