Amy Bishop charged with 2002 assault at IHOP
HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Police reports show that in 2002, UAH shooting suspect Amy Bishop punched a woman in the head for not giving her child a booster seat at a restaurant, all the while yelling, "I am Dr. Amy Bishop."
In March of that year, Bishop went to an International House of Pancakes in Massachusetts with family and asked for a booster seat for one of her children, according to The Boston Globe. When she found out another mother had gotten the seat, she walked over to the woman, demanded the seat and yelled profanities at her, according to the police report.
When the woman refused to give up the seat, she punched her in the head and yelled "I am Dr. Amy Bishop."
The Globe said Bishop received probation and prosecutors recommended that she be sent to anger management classes. It's unclear if she ever went. The victim in the assault declined to talk to the Boston newspaper.
Three Killed In Alabama University Shooting
It doesn't end with this lady:
Bishop's husband (who is doing a lot of talking to the media) has said today that she recently had went with him to the shooting range to shoot at targets. He claims she went with him even though he didn't know where she had gotten the gun, and she never said why she had suddenly taken an interest in shooting.
Here's an account from Dr. Joseph Ng who was in the room when it happened. It was an e-mail he sent to his former graduate advisor:
And to turn our minds from the freakshow, here are some pieces on the victims and their research and accomplishments. Amy Bishop not only ended three lives, and devastated several families, but as a result of what she's done, there's also a department that will probably take years to rebuild, students who may choose a different career path without these professors to advise them, and discoveries that may never be made.
Dr. Podila:
Dr Davis:
Dr. Johnson
Edited By dws1982 on 1266285555
Here's an account from Dr. Joseph Ng who was in the room when it happened. It was an e-mail he sent to his former graduate advisor:
Dear Alex,
Thank you for your thoughts and concern.
The last couple of days are still unbelievable. I am still in complete shock that we were shot at during a faculty meeting.
We were 12 all together (including the shooter) sitting around an oval table in a modest size conference room . There were only one door to enter/exit.
The shooter was a disgruntled faculty member who didn’t get tenured after several appeals and a law suit.
About 30min into the meeting, she got up suddenly, took out a gun and started shooting at each one of us. She started with the one closest to her and went down the row shooting her targets in the head.
Our chairman got it the worst as he was right next to her along with two others who died almost instantly.
Six people sitting in the rows perpendicular were all shot fatally or seriously wounded. The remaining 5 including myself were on the other side of the table immediately dropped to the floor.
During a reload, the shooter was rushed, and we pushed her out the hall way and closed the door. Thereafter we barricaded the door and called 911.
At the time, I saw 2 dead bodies already and several wounded. Blood was everywhere with crying and moaning. I was on the phone with 911 reporting what had happened and while waiting we tried to stop the bleeding of those who we thought were still alive.
In about 5 min, the campus and city police, ambulance and a SWAT team arrived. We were in a pool of blood in disbelief of what had happened.
There were 5 of us who got out relatively unscathed – I was one of them. Over the weekend, we were at the hospital looking after the 3 wounded and the family of the deceased.
It is hard to have this image out of my mind and I have mixed feelings of guilt and relief that I am alive or unharmed.
Now half of faculty is out of commission and we are wondering what to do. This week, the University is closed.
We will attend a bunch of memorial services and funerals in the next two weeks and try to rebuild a department in the months ahead.
Hopefully we will talk more later.
Take care, Joe
And to turn our minds from the freakshow, here are some pieces on the victims and their research and accomplishments. Amy Bishop not only ended three lives, and devastated several families, but as a result of what she's done, there's also a department that will probably take years to rebuild, students who may choose a different career path without these professors to advise them, and discoveries that may never be made.
Dr. Podila:
HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Dr. Gopi Podila, who came to Huntsville 10 years ago, predicted the city was about to emerge as a biotech hub in the new South.
"Biotech has been a hidden gem here," said Podila during an interview for the local R&D Report magazine in 2008. "You need a critical mass to be really visible. I think it's getting there."
Podila, 52, left a teaching position at Michigan Technological University in 2000 to become the chair of the Biology Department at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
"We needed a department chair who was an experienced researcher, an accomplished biologist," said Dr. Lewis Radonovich, former UAH provost. "Gopi was a highly principled, fine human being. He was a solid man, a good man. He tried very hard to support his young faculty."
Radonovich said Podila helped start the biology doctoral program at UAH. That program recently included about 15 students, he said. Dr. Jack Fix, dean of the College of Science at UAH, said the biology department also included about dozen faculty members.
Podila's areas of research included bioenergy, plant-microbe interactions, plant genetics and biotechnology. Podila said in 2008 that his department was researching fungi and microbes that could help break down the cellulose from grass and trees to create the sugar necessary to produce alcohol for biofuel.
"We can do it," Podila said two years ago, "but they haven't figured out a way to make it mainstream."
The Biology Department was the most popular in the College of Science, Fix said, teaching about 450 undergraduates. He said the biology faculty members were particularly cooperative. To some degree, that started with Podila.
"He was a leader for the department," Fix said. "He was a very warm person. He was funny and a good advocate for his department."
Rena Webb, who is working on her masters degree in biology, said Podila was her adviser. "He really is the nicest man I've ever known," said Webb. "You don't feel like a graduate student, you feel like part of a family."
Dr Davis:
HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Dr. Maria Ragland Davis was an associate professor of biology at UAH. She joined the university in 2000 when Research Genetics, her previous employer, was sold.
Davis, 52, had a doctorate from North Carolina State University and studied molecular biology and plant genetics, according to Dr. Jack Fix, dean of the UAH College of Science.
In her faculty biography, Davis said, "My research has been to initially identify novel factors, proteinacious or chemical, which contribute to the fitness of the plant pathogenic fungus, Botrytis cinerea. ... The hypothesis that we are proposing is that the mechanism of pathogen attacks on host plants may be initially defined with the secretion of key proteins and chemicals that breach the plant cell wall. ..."
"Lately, she had been very excited about her research," Fix said. "She had a couple of very nice grants that had been funded, and she had tons of ideas."
"When (Research Genetics) got bought out, we had the opportunity to hire her," then-UAH provost Dr. Lewis Radonovich remembered Saturday. "Maria has just flourished in the last couple of years. She's had numerous research grants, a great publication record, numerous graduate students, and just done very well."
Radonovich called Davis "one of our most promising" faculty members and researchers.
"She was a fine, hard-working person," Radonovich said, "and she complimented (Biology Department Chairman Dr. Gopi Podila's) work quite well."
Carissa Alderton of Union Hill took Introduction to Biology from Davis last fall along with more than 100 classmates.
"It was a very challenging class," the 19-year-old pre-nursing student said Saturday night, "but I enjoyed the course.
"She was always on time," Alderton said of Davis, "and she was always prepared."
When Davis' death was confirmed Friday night, Alderton said she cried for her professor and her family.
Dr. Johnson
HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Dr. Adriel Johnson, 52, was an associate biology professor working in cell biology and nutritional physiology research. But he didn't just teach college students.
For years, Johnson gave of his time to teach Madison County Boy Scouts about nature and science.
Johnson, who had two sons and volunteered with the First Missionary Baptist Church troop, was one of three professors shot and killed on UAH's campus Friday.
Before his death, he had won the Boy Scout district award of merit, the Whitney Young Award for exceptional work with urban and rural Scouts, and the Silver Beaver, the highest award a volunteer Scout leader can receive.
"Adriel had an exceptional ability to work with youth," said Bill McCoy, who is on the Scouts' district committee for advancement. "He was dedicated to the Scouts of Madison County, and his passing is a tremendous loss to all of them."
Johnson also was the director for the UAH chapter of the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.
Dr. Lewis Radonovich, a UAH vice president and former provost, praised Johnson for his support of African-American students seeking graduate degrees in science, engineering and math.
Dr. Jack Fix, dean of the UAH College of Science, called him "a good university citizen" who was willing to work with students from any major to prepare for higher degrees in health care, dental school or medical school.
Phil Gentry, who worked in UAH public relations and assisted the Biology Department for 20 years, first got to know Johnson when the two prepared promotional materials on minority programs in counseling and tutoring.
"Adriel was very even-keeled," Gentry said. "I don't guess I ever saw him angry. He was always upbeat, always going out of his way to shake your hand, greet you, share stories about his family."
Edited By dws1982 on 1266285555
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Yep, definitely a serial killer.
The mother, Congressman Delahunt and anyone else involved in the cover-up should be prosecuted as accessories to murder, or at the very least be sued by the survivors of the Alabama victims in Civil Court whose deaths could have been prevented if she were put under lock and key where she belonged.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1266260970
The mother, Congressman Delahunt and anyone else involved in the cover-up should be prosecuted as accessories to murder, or at the very least be sued by the survivors of the Alabama victims in Civil Court whose deaths could have been prevented if she were put under lock and key where she belonged.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1266260970
It keeps getting stranger (these are summaries, not official news stories)...
The death of her brother is now officially under review. Her mother had been on some Police Board in Braintree at the time, which could explain how she was never charged after she "accidentally" chased her brother through the house with a pump shotgun, left holes in the walls, and left one hole in her brother's abdomen. The District Attorney who decided not to press charges is now congressman Bill Delahunt, who has not commented on the case.
A man who was working at the car dealership where Bishop was arrested after that shooting claimed that before her arrest, she came in with a gun and demanded a car. She was arrested while walking through the dealership right after that.
Bishop was also questioned (along with her husband) in connection with a mail bomb sent in 1993 to Harvard professor Paul Rosenberg. Bishop had worked with him and received a negative evaluation, which lead to a dispute. Bishop's husband claims they received a letter five years later saying they were cleared. No one was ever charged.
The death of her brother is now officially under review. Her mother had been on some Police Board in Braintree at the time, which could explain how she was never charged after she "accidentally" chased her brother through the house with a pump shotgun, left holes in the walls, and left one hole in her brother's abdomen. The District Attorney who decided not to press charges is now congressman Bill Delahunt, who has not commented on the case.
A man who was working at the car dealership where Bishop was arrested after that shooting claimed that before her arrest, she came in with a gun and demanded a car. She was arrested while walking through the dealership right after that.
Bishop was also questioned (along with her husband) in connection with a mail bomb sent in 1993 to Harvard professor Paul Rosenberg. Bishop had worked with him and received a negative evaluation, which lead to a dispute. Bishop's husband claims they received a letter five years later saying they were cleared. No one was ever charged.
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Big Magilla
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Sonic Youth
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This is not the first fatal shooting that Dr. Bishop is responsible for, it turns out:
Edited By dws1982 on 1266102307
BRAINTREE, Mass. – An Alabama university professor accused of fatally shooting three colleagues at a faculty meeting this week shot her younger brother dead at their home in the Boston suburbs more than 20 years ago, but records of it are missing, police said Saturday.
Amy Bishop shot her teenage brother in the chest in 1986, Braintree police Chief Paul Frazier said at a news conference. She fired at least three shots, hitting her brother once and hitting her bedroom wall, before police took her into custody at gunpoint, he said.
Before Bishop could be booked, however, the police chief back then called officers and told them to release her to her mother, Frazier said. The shooting of the brother, Seth Bishop, an 18-year-old accomplished violinist, was logged as an accident, but detailed records of the shooting have disappeared, he said.
"The report's gone, removed from the files," he said.
He said people who worked for the police department then remember the shooting and he planned to meet with the district attorney over the possibility of launching a criminal investigation into the report's disappearance.
The former police chief, John Polio, said Saturday in an interview at his home that he was astonished at any allegation of a coverup. He said he didn't call officers to tell them to release Bishop.
"There's no coverup, no missing records," he proclaimed.
A University of Alabama at Huntsville spokesman said Bishop, 42, had been denied tenure before she was held Friday in the campus shooting.
As Bishop was being taken to jail in handcuffs she said: "It didn't happen. There's no way."
Attempts by The Associated Press to track down addresses and phone numbers for Bishop's family in the Braintree area weren't immediately successful Saturday. The current police chief said he believed her family had moved away.
Edited By dws1982 on 1266102307
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Big Magilla
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That's one way to create openings in the faculty, I guess.
http://news.yahoo.com/s....hooting
http://news.yahoo.com/s....hooting
The victims names have been released: Dr. G.K. Podila, Dr. Maria Ragland Davis, and Dr. Adriel Johnson.
Being treated are Dr. Joseph Leahy, Dr. Luis Rogelio Cruz-Vera, and Stephanie Monticello.
And to correct myself, I did not have a lab in that building. That was the old science building. This one is the replacement building, opened just three years ago.
Being treated are Dr. Joseph Leahy, Dr. Luis Rogelio Cruz-Vera, and Stephanie Monticello.
And to correct myself, I did not have a lab in that building. That was the old science building. This one is the replacement building, opened just three years ago.
I was briefly a student at UAH (or UA Huntsville as it's now called) several years ago, and know a lot of people who have attended and/or worked there. I had a lab in Shelby Hall, where the shooting took place. The atmosphere on campus was always very uptight and very tense, and since a new President came in recently, things have reportedly even been more tense.
The alleged shooter is Dr. Amy Bishop, who reportedly was informed that she was denied tenure during the meeting. The man being held for questioning is her husband. None of the names of the victims have been released yet.
And as the article indicates, this is just one week after a shooting at Discovery Middle School in Madison (just west of Huntsville) left one dead. In that incident, one student went right up to the other, put a gun to the back of his head, and pulled the trigger. (Police have said it was gang related.) My cousin was actually in the hallway when that happened, but she (thankfully) didn't see it.
Edited By dws1982 on 1266027595
The alleged shooter is Dr. Amy Bishop, who reportedly was informed that she was denied tenure during the meeting. The man being held for questioning is her husband. None of the names of the victims have been released yet.
And as the article indicates, this is just one week after a shooting at Discovery Middle School in Madison (just west of Huntsville) left one dead. In that incident, one student went right up to the other, put a gun to the back of his head, and pulled the trigger. (Police have said it was gang related.) My cousin was actually in the hallway when that happened, but she (thankfully) didn't see it.
Edited By dws1982 on 1266027595
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A woman opened fire during a biology faculty meeting at the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus Friday, killing three people and injuring three others, officials said. The shooter was caught outside the Shelby Center, a science building, without incident, according to university spokesman Ray Garner. Local media reported the shooter was a faculty member, though Garner said he could not identify her. A man was also being detained.
All three of those killed and two of the injured were faculty members. The third injured person was a staff member. No students were involved in the shooting.
Huntsville Hospital spokesman Burr Ingram said two of the injured were in critical condition and the third was in stable condition.
Nick Lawton, the son of a biology professor at the school, said his father was not among the victims, but he did not know much more.
Lawton, 25, was exercising when a friend phoned him to tell him about the shooting. He called his father, Robert Lawton, and found out that he was not hurt, then he let rest of his family know.
"All I know is that my father is OK," Nick Lawton told The Associated Press.
Sophomore Erin Johnson told The Huntsville Times a biology faculty meeting was under way when she heard screams coming from a conference room.
University police secured the building and students were cleared from it. There was still a heavy police presence on campus Friday night, with police tape cordoning off the main entrance to the university.
The Huntsville campus has about 7,500 students in northern Alabama, not far from the Tennessee line. The university is known for its scientific and engineering programs and often works closely with NASA.
The space agency has a research center on the school's campus, where many scientists and engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center perform Earth and space science research and development.
The university posted a message on its Web site Friday afternoon telling students the campus was closed Friday night and all students were encouraged to go home. Counselors were available to speak with students.
It's the second shooting in a week on an area campus. Last Friday, a 14-year-old student was killed in a middle school hallway in nearby Madison, allegedly by a fellow student.
"This town is unaccustomed to shootings and multiple deaths," Garner said.
All three of those killed and two of the injured were faculty members. The third injured person was a staff member. No students were involved in the shooting.
Huntsville Hospital spokesman Burr Ingram said two of the injured were in critical condition and the third was in stable condition.
Nick Lawton, the son of a biology professor at the school, said his father was not among the victims, but he did not know much more.
Lawton, 25, was exercising when a friend phoned him to tell him about the shooting. He called his father, Robert Lawton, and found out that he was not hurt, then he let rest of his family know.
"All I know is that my father is OK," Nick Lawton told The Associated Press.
Sophomore Erin Johnson told The Huntsville Times a biology faculty meeting was under way when she heard screams coming from a conference room.
University police secured the building and students were cleared from it. There was still a heavy police presence on campus Friday night, with police tape cordoning off the main entrance to the university.
The Huntsville campus has about 7,500 students in northern Alabama, not far from the Tennessee line. The university is known for its scientific and engineering programs and often works closely with NASA.
The space agency has a research center on the school's campus, where many scientists and engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center perform Earth and space science research and development.
The university posted a message on its Web site Friday afternoon telling students the campus was closed Friday night and all students were encouraged to go home. Counselors were available to speak with students.
It's the second shooting in a week on an area campus. Last Friday, a 14-year-old student was killed in a middle school hallway in nearby Madison, allegedly by a fellow student.
"This town is unaccustomed to shootings and multiple deaths," Garner said.