THE STRANGE CASE OF AMY BISHOP
On February 12, 2010, Amy Bishop, PhD., walked into a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and opened fire with a 9mm handgun, killing three professors and wounding three other persons. She was reportedly distraught over being denied tenure in the biology department and may have been facing dismissal from the school.
Shortly after her arrest it came out that she had killed her brother in 1986 under disputed circumstances. The initial report had her shooting her brother in an argument. The amended report states that she was trying to unload the shotgun when it accidentally discharged three times, killing her brother; an account corroborated by her mother. Bishop was released into the custody of her mother, who was then head of the Braintree, MA, police personnel board. The incident was ruled an "accidental" death. The official case file has been missing since 1988.
In 1993, Amy Bishop was questioned in connection with the attempting pipe bombing of a Harvard professor with whom she had been having a dispute over an evaluation of her work. The investigation moved on, and she was never charged. During a search of her residence, police turned up a draft of a novel about a scientist who shot her brother and hoped to atone for it by doing great things.
By all accounts Amy Bishop was a shy, homely loner who was liked by some, avoided by most. The husband of one of the victims said that his wife described Bishop as "not being able to deal with reality." When Alabama police took Bishop into custody for the shootings, her reaction was "It didn't happen. There's no way. ... They are still alive."
What stings in this case is the taint of official corruption. The signs of a cover-up based on favoritism and self-interest were clear at the time. Amy Bishop was allowed to go on with her life. Had the Braintree authorities done the right thing, three people would still be alive today. It's that simple and that complicated.
William Faulkner wrote: "The past is not dead. It is not even past." The folks up in Massachusetts who let Amy Bishop slide by are about to find that out.
February 15, 2010
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