Professor accused in Ala. slayings shot her brother in Mass. 24 years ago

[cali]

Bob Gathany/Huntsville Times/AP

By John M. Guilfoil and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The University of Alabama biology professor accused of slaying three of her colleagues fatally shot her brother in an apparent accident in Massachusetts more than two decades ago, a local police chief said.

Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier confirmed the 1986 shooting in his town and slated a news conference this afternoon to discuss the incident.

The Globe reported at the time that Amy Bishop had shot her 18-year-old brother, Seth M. Bishop, an accomplished violinist who had won a number of science awards.

John Polio, chief of police at the time, said Amy Bishop, who was 20 at the time, had asked her mother, Judith, in the presence of her brother how to unload a round from the chamber of a 12-gauge shotgun.

Polio told the Globe that while Amy Bishop was handling the weapon, it fired, wounding Seth Bishop in the abdomen. He was pronounced dead at a hospital 46 minutes after the Dec. 6, 1986 shooting.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/02/professor_accus.html

[Schema Thing]

1. yikes

[woo me with science]

2. Police Chief says it wasn't accidental and was covered up.

Also from your link:

The Boston Globe reported at the time that Amy Bishop had accidentally shot her 18-year-old brother, Seth M. Bishop, an accomplished violinist who had won a number of science awards, in Braintree.

....Frazier offered a different account of the shooting, saying Bishop had shot her brother during an argument and was being booked by police when the police chief at the time ordered the booking process stopped and Bishop released her to her mother.

Frazier said he was basing his statements on the memories of one of his officers who was on the department at the time and had arrested Bishop. He said the records from the case have been missing since at least 1987.

"I don't want to use the word 'coverup,' but this does not look good," he said.
.....
But Frazier said the media had been fed an incorrect story. He said that there was an argument at the home on Hollis Avenue and Amy Bishop had fired three shots, then fled the house and pointed the shotgun in a motorist in an attempted carjack. She was then arrested at gunpoint by officers.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Who was her lawyer -- Denny Crane? n/t

[TexasObserver]

9. Denny Crane

[bluestateguy]

3. As she was not charged, I don't see this as relevant to what is going on now

There is plenty to charge her with based on what happened yesterday.

She sounds like a serious nutjob.

[Orrex]

5. Well, if she'd won a Golden Globe in 1992, they'd probably mention that as well

It's an unusual story from her personal history, so it gets noticed. That's how it always goes.

[tonysam]

6. Yep. Like the Barton Corbin case a few years ago

Two women, including Corbin's wife and a former girlfriend, supposedly committed "suicide" years apart, but then investigators found out he killed both of them.

[mitchum]

7. A scientist utilizing the scientific method

"I DO get the same results!"

[northernlights]

8. accurate *and* precise nt

[stray cat]

10. I didn't know she killed him - wow! I'll postpone judgement on the accident part