Amy Bishop mugshot

Mass chaos erupts on a college campus as a gunman opens fire.  Professors and students are scrambling, bystanders are taking cover and no one knows where the bullets will land.  This was the scene on February 12, 2010 at the University of Alabama Huntsville campus.  One of their professors allegedly brought a gun to the school and started taking shots.  Investigators learned the lone gunman was actually a Harvard University graduate and one of their own. 

Her name is Amy Bishop.

I can’t recall in recent history a woman opening fire on a campus, much less a professor.   I spoke with Sgt. Mark Roberts from the Huntsville Police Department and he told me there was a faculty meeting, and just before 4 p.m. gunfire erupted inside the conference room.  Police were called, and responded to the building within minutes.  They didn’t know at the time where the alleged shooter, Amy Bishop was hiding, but they eventually found her outside the building and took her into custody.  Sgt. Roberts says investigators on the scene did not immediately find the 9 mm gun that was used, but later that night authorities located the weapon on the 2^nd floor bathroom inside a garbage can.  Amy Bishop did not have a permit for the gun.  Sadly, three professors died in the deadly incident, and three others were injured. 

Amy Bishop’s history with the law has taken many twists and turns over the years.  Police say she shot and killed her brother Seth Bishop in 1986, and now she has been indicted on charges of first degree murder in her brother’s death 24 years later.  An inquest was ordered into the shooting back in April, and the charge came down this week.  A warrant was served to authorities in Alabama yesterday to request extradition of Bishop back to the state of Massachusetts, but she may never make it.  If Bishop is convicted of the shootings in Alabama, she could face the death penalty.

Initially the shooting was ruled an accident by the local Braintree Police Department, and by the District Attorney in Boston.  I spoke with the former police Chief Polio at his home, and he told me that because of so many questions in the case, he had it turned over to the state police.  The District Attorney at the time made the final ruling on that investigation.  Since then, the Norfolk District Attorney’s office issued a release and said, “the analysis of the newly received documents, as well as the previously released March 30, 1987 State Police report indicate that probable cause existed at that time to place Amy Bishop under arrest charged with: Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, Carrying a Dangerous Weapon, Unlawful possession of ammunition.”  Some of the potential charges could have stemmed from a man who says he was held up at gunpoint by Bishop in an auto repair shop.  I was on HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell show last night with Tom Pettigrew, a guest, who told viewers what happened on that day in 1986.  He claims Bishop pointed the gun, hit him in the chest, and told him to put his hands up.  Bishop said she was in a fight with her husband, and needed a car to escape.  At the time, Bishop was not married.  The Norfolk County District Attorney’s office says, “The reports supply significant additional details into the incident and the circumstances of the apprehension of Amy Bishop.  The reports do not contradict the previously released information regarding the sole eye witness, the victim’s mother, who told police at the time that she directly observed the shotgun in her daughter’s hands discharge accidentally, striking and killing Seth Bishop.”

In addition to the fatal shooting, back in 1993 Amy was questioned by authorities in Massachusetts for sending two bombs to a fellow colleague from Harvard; then in2002 she was charged with assault on a woman at an IHOP.  Bishop verbally abused the woman and hit her in the head after the victim took the last booster seat.

BACKGROUND: Bishop graduated from Northeastern in 1988 with biology degrees, and in 1993 she earned a doctorate in genetics from Harvard University. Friends say she loved to play Dungeons and Dragons with her husband.  I spoke with Bishop’s next door neighbor Mrs. Armstrong and she says, “I would never expect her to shoot anyone, she told me the reason she moved here was because she had a better shot at getting tenure.”  Mrs. Armstrong also says Amy Bishop and her husband James Anderson have four children, the youngest is in third grade, and the oldest is 18.  Mrs. Armstrong and her family never had any problems with the Bishops, but she did say Bishop gave her the impression she “always had to be right.”    

Right now, Bishop is held without bond at the Madison County jail.  She is facing capitol murder and attempted murder charges.  When I spoke to a representative at the jail initially, she would not say if Bishop is on suicide watch, but she did confirm the suspect was at their facility.  Less than an hour after the shooting, Sgt. Roberts says his department obtained a search warrant to enter Bishop’s house to search for more evidence, but he does not know the specifics of what was taken.   

Bishop and her husband, James Anderson, lived in Ipswich, MA from 1998 – 2003.  I retrieved police records that indicate Bishop and Anderson called police 14 times for various reasons to include noisy neighborhood kids with loud dirt bikes and basketballs to another report that they feared their daughters were missing. 

Before their move to Ipswich, in 1993, Bishop and her husband, James Anderson was questioned in an incident where a bomb was sent to a Harvard University professor.  Reports say Anderson spoke out to say that five years after the incident, he and his wife were sent a letter to say they were cleared. I spoke with  Lt. Bruce Apotheker with the Newtown Police Department, and he says on December 19, 1993, 11:10 p.m. they received a call from a professor.  The man said that upon returning from vacation with his wife, he opened his mail to find he had received what looked like a bomb.  Lt. Apotheker says the professor said he observed wires and a metal cylinder, shut the box.  The Newton Police department notified the state police because they have an expert bomb team.  The bomb squad arrived on location, detonated one of the bombs in the front yard, and took the other one with them.

In 2002, the Peabody Police were called to an International House of Pancakes in the area for reports of an assault.  I spoke with Capt. Bonaiuto, and he told me on March 16, 2002, an officer responded to the IHOP and spoke to a victim who was crying and shaken from an incident with Amy Bishop.  The victim told authorities that she and her children went to the IHOP for breakfast, and they were seated by a waitress.  At the same time, Bishop and her kids were seated.  The victim claims she asked for a booster seat, and near the same time Bishop asked for one as well.  The waitress told Bishop she had just given the last seat out, and that she was sorry.  Witnesses told police Bishop became angry, and made a loud comment, “We were here first.”  According to police, Bishop started to verbally abuse the victim and her children, yelling profanity, and shouting, “I am Dr. Amy Bishop.”  The yelling became so loud, it was echoing through the restaurant, and when the manager came over, she was asked to leave.  Bishop would not calm down, and at that point, police say she punched the victim on the right side of the head.  Police say Bishop and her family left, the manager got her license plate number, and she was later questioned by authorities.  She gave a different account of what happened, and her statement did not match the various witnesses and victim at the IHOP.  Bishop entered a plea agreement, and admitted to sufficient facts to find her guilty.  She was given six months probation.  If she stuck to the terms of her probation, the guilty conviction would not appear on her record, but the case would always remain.

Amy Bishop is the mother of four children who are currently living with her husband.