Prof charged over varsity killings

2010-02-13 17:23

Huntsville - A biology professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville who authorities say opened fire at a faculty meeting is facing a murder charge after the shooting spree that left three dead and three wounded.

Amy Bishop, 42, was charged on Friday night with one count of capital murder, which means she could face the death penalty if convicted. Three of Bishop's fellow biology professors were killed and three other university employees were wounded.

University spokesperson Ray Garner said the three killed were Gopi K Podila, the chair of the department of biological sciences, and two other faculty members, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson.

Davis' husband, Sammie Lee Davis, said those at the meeting were discussing tenure - a lifetime job guarantee - for Bishop, who had been an assistant professor since 2003. Authorities have not discussed a motive.

UAH student Andrew Cole was in Bishop's anatomy class on Friday morning and said she seemed perfectly normal.

"She's understanding, and was concerned about students," he said. "I would have never thought it was her."

'It didn't happen'

Bishop, a neurobiologist who studied at Harvard University, was taken in handcuffs from a police precinct to the county jail on Friday night and could be heard saying, "It didn't happen. There's no way. ... They are still alive."

Police said they were also interviewing a man as "a person of interest".

Three others were wounded, two critically, in the gunfire. They wounded were identified as department members Luis Cruz-Vera, who was listed in fair condition, and Joseph Leahy, in critical condition in intensive care, and staffer Stephanie Monticello, also in critical condition in intensive care.

Sammie Lee Davis said his wife was a researcher who had tenure at the university.

In a brief phone interview, he said he was told his wife was at a meeting to discuss the tenure status of another faculty member who got angry and started shooting. He said his wife had mentioned the suspect before, describing the woman as "not being able to deal with reality" and "not as good as she thought she was".

Bishop and her husband placed third in a state-wide university business plan competition in July 2007, presenting a portable cell incubator they had invented. They won $25 000 to help start a company to market the device.

Students offered varying assessments of Bishop.

'Weird'

Andrea Bennett, a sophomore majoring in nursing, described Bishop as being "very weird" and "a really big nerd".

"She's well-known on campus, but I wouldn't say she's a good teacher. I've heard a lot of complaints," Bennett said. "She's a genius, but she really just can't explain things."

Bennett, an athlete at UAH, said her coach told her team Bishop had been denied tenure and that may have led to the shooting.

Amanda Tucker, a junior nursing major from Alabaster, Alabama, had Bishop for anatomy class about a year ago. Tucker said a group of students complained to a dean about Bishop's performance in the classroom.

"When it came down to tests, and people asked her what was the best way to study, she'd just tell you, `Read the book.' When the test came, there were just ridiculous questions. No one even knew what she was asking," said Tucker.

But Nick Lawton, 25, described Bishop as funny and accommodating with students.

"She lectured from the textbook, mostly stuck to the subject matter at hand," Lawton said. "She seemed like a nice enough professor."

University police secured the building and students were cleared from it. There was still a heavy police presence on campus on  Friday night, with police tape cordoning off the main entrance to the university.

The university will remain closed next week and all athletic events were cancelled.

It's the second shooting in a week on an area campus. On February 5, a 14-year-old student was killed in a middle school hallway in nearby Madison, allegedly by a fellow student.

Mass shooting by women rare

Mass shootings are rarely carried out by women, said Dr Park Dietz, president of Threat Assessment Group Inc., a California-based violence prevention firm.

A notable exception was a 1985 rampage at a Springfield mall in which three people were killed.

Dietz said it was possible the suspect in Friday's shooting had a long-standing grudge against colleagues or superiors and felt complaints had not been dealt with fairly.

Gregg McCrary, a retired FBI agent and private criminal profiler based in Fredericksburg, said there is no typical mass shooter but noted they often share a sense of paranoia, depression or a feeling that they are not appreciated.

- SAPA