Professor charged in school shooting
Melanie Rifkin
Issue date: 2/26/10 Section: News
Amy Bishop shot and killed three colleagues and wounded three others at the University of Alabama last week. She is being charged with capital murder. However, this isn't Bishop's first brush with the law.
In 1986, Bishop shot and killed her brother with their father's handgun. She claims it was an accident and was never charged. In 1994, she and her husband were questioned in a mail bomb plot against a professor at Harvard, where Bishop obtained her Ph.D. In 2002, she punched a woman in the head at a local IHOP for stealing a booster seat.
Bishop is one of very few females to have pulled the trigger in a tragedy such as this. Most other school shooters have been male. She claims to not remember the event, which-in combination with her now-public history-likely indicates a psychiatric defense.
Bishop was denied tenure shortly before the incident, and this semester was going to be her last.
In 1986, Bishop shot and killed her brother with their father's handgun. She claims it was an accident and was never charged. In 1994, she and her husband were questioned in a mail bomb plot against a professor at Harvard, where Bishop obtained her Ph.D. In 2002, she punched a woman in the head at a local IHOP for stealing a booster seat.
Bishop is one of very few females to have pulled the trigger in a tragedy such as this. Most other school shooters have been male. She claims to not remember the event, which-in combination with her now-public history-likely indicates a psychiatric defense.
Bishop was denied tenure shortly before the incident, and this semester was going to be her last.
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