There are now reports that the faculty member who shot three colleagues also shot and killed her brother in 1986, and was released under orders from a DA who is now a congressman.
The Boston Globe reported that Amy Bishop, a biology professor at UAH who is accused of shooting and killing three colleagues yesterday, accidentally shot her 18-year-old brother, Seth M. Bishop, in the abdomen with a 12-gauge shotgun in December 1986.
The report said Bishop was asking her mother, Judith, how to properly unload the gun when it when off and a shot struck Seth.
Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier is now offering a different account of the shooting to The Globe: “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 to her mother,” the paper reports on its Web site. Records from the case have been missing since 1987.
Gateway Pundit goes on to report that the police chief had received a call from the DA, William Delahunt:
Braintree officers who remember the 1986 shooting said that former police Chief John Polio dismissed detectives from the case and ordered the department to release Amy Bishop after a telephone conversation with former district attorney William Delahunt.
Delahunt is currently a U.S. congressman from Massachusetts.
When contacted Saturday, Polio, now 86, said that there was no cover up in Seth Bishop’s death, though there were questions about whether the shooting was an accident.
There certainly would seem to be questions about it being an ‘accident’ since three shots were fired.
Obviously, there are unknowns here (not least is how the records disappeared), and we should not rush to judgment. But it would be good to hear from Delahunt, and to know if Bishop’s mother, who was a town official, was a political ally of his.
PS: I’m not sure why Gateway thinks it’s worth headlining that Bishop is a socialist. That would seem an irrelevance, based on what is known thus far.
Update: Here’s an article on Delahunt possibly being motivated to retire — apparently written before this news came out. I imagine he’ll be more motivated now.
February 13th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Bob,
I think the reason why Gateway is spotlighting it is to point out the hypocrisy of the media by contrasting how the media focuses on the ideology of a nutcase from “our side” with how the media sometimes doesn’t bring up the ideology of a nutcase from their side.
February 13th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Isn’t “socialist professor” a redundancy?
February 13th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
I was at a friend’s house this evening and saw the news about the murder, I told the people there that it was during the Michael Dukakis years as governor and that someone probably released her. Sure enough, it was a liberal who would eventually be a Congressman in the Senate.
February 14th, 2010 at 12:53 am
1 — I understand, Tommy, but I don’t think the right should stoop to the level of TPM, where they run articles headed “Man Charged With Stockpiling Weapons Was Tea Partier, Palin Fan”
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/man_charged_for_stockpiling_weapons_was_tea_partie.php
February 14th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Actually Steven it was Harshbarger who would later become Atty General, run for Governor, head Common Cause and whitewashed ACORN recently, he was succeeded by Reilly, at the time of the bombing attempt, who also made it to Atty General, who was succeeded by Coakley