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Shooting of Seth Bishop

When Amy Bishop was 21 years old in December 1986, she shot and killed her 18-year-old brother, Seth Bishop, at their home in Braintree, Massachusetts.

She was interviewed 11 days after the shooting and told investigators that she approached her brother with a shotgun so he could teach her how to unload it when it went off and killed him. Her mother was a witness and backed up her account.

Authorities ruled the incident accidental.

Teaching Career

Amy Bishop started teaching at the University of Alabama, Huntsville in 2003. Although she was highly educated and previously taught at Harvard Medical School, she was not respected.

Bishop was considered a lousy instructor, and students disliked her.

Not only did her students hate her, but so did her colleagues. She was said to go off on odd tangents during meetings and act weird.

Bishop was denied tenure in March 2009. The University notified her that her contract, which was set to expire in March 2010, would not be renewed.

University Shooting

On February 14, 2010, Bishop attended a faculty meeting with a dozen coworkers. After 30 minutes, she pulled out a handgun and opened fire.

When the gun jammed, the survivors were able to push her out of the room and block the door. Three people were injured, and three others died.

Bishop was arrested and charged with one count of capital murder and three counts of attempted murder, and the case quickly gained massive media attention. While Bishop pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease, prosecutors announced their intention to seek the death penalty.

Reexamination of her brother’s death

When authorities in Massachusetts learned about the Huntsville, Alabama, shooting, they decided to take another look at the 1986 death of her brother.

As they reviewed old statements and reinterviewed witnesses, they found the investigation had been botched.

They learned that Amy shot her brother after arguing with her father. Then she fled the home, tried to carjack someone, and tried to steal a getaway car at gunpoint from a nearby car dealership. When police officers showed up and approached her, she initially refused to drop her weapon.

A crime scene photo showed that Amy had a newspaper clipping in her bedroom about the murder of actor Patrick Duffy’s parents in November 1986. In that crime, two teen killed the couple with a shotgun, then stole a vehicle from a car dealership.

With it looking more and more like Amy got away with murder, the Norfolk district attorney ordered an inquest, which was held in April 2010.

Bishop’s parents were two of the 19 witnesses called. Her parents claimed that Amy had been paranoid about being alone after their home was broken into.

They claimed the day of Seth’s death, Amy had been left alone for two hours. Amy’s mother said that when the family returned home, Amy approached Seth and asked him to unload the shotgun after it went off. Amy’s mother said that Amy’s hand was not on the trigger at the time of the shooting.

Two months after the inquest, Amy was charged with first-degree murder in the death of her brother. She was facing life without parole.

Aftermath

As the Huntsville case progressed, the nine survivors made it known that they did not want Bishop to be executed.

She pleaded guilty to all charges on September 11th, 2012. She was sentenced to life without parole on September 24th, 2012.

Norfolk County, Massachusetts, never prosecuted her for the death of her brother.

Amy is locked up in the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, AL.