HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — An Alabama professor accused of shooting six colleagues was vocal in her resentment over being denied tenure and the looming loss of her teaching post, though relatives and students said she had never suggested she might become violent.
Not even Amy Bishop’s husband knew she might turn violent, according to the man’s father. Everyone from family and friends to her students at the University of Alabama in Huntsville said the intelligent and at times awkward teacher seemed normal in the hours before police say she opened fire in a faculty meeting Friday afternoon, leaving three dead and another three wounded.
Jim Anderson — the father of Bishop’s husband, James Anderson — told The Associated Press on Sunday his son had no idea Bishop was planning the bloodshed she’s accused of.
“He knew nothing. He didn’t know anything,” the father said.
Indeed, there were many things Bishop apparently did not reveal to those around her.
In 1986, Bishop shot and killed her 18-year-old brother with a shotgun at their Braintree, Mass., home. Authorities said the episode was a tragic accident.
Police say the gun she’s accused of using in the Alabama shooting wasn’t registered, and investigators don’t know how or where she got it.
Bishop, who has four children, was arrested soon after the shooting and charged with capital murder. Other charges are pending. Her husband was detained and questioned by police but has not been charged.
James Anderson said his wife had an attorney but would not say who it was. He declined to comment further Sunday. However, he told the Chronicle of Higher Education that just after the shooting, his wife called and asked him to pick her up. She never mentioned the shooting, he said.
