Amy Bishop at Firing Range prior to Univ Alabama shootings: Amy Bishop in Therapy?

Amy Bishop's husband, Jim Anderson, has told reporters that he and his wife visited a firing range a few days before the Huntsville shooting at the University of Alabama. He is, however, clueless about where Bishop got the gun to kill and wound the faculty members at the school. - or maybe not. Press reports differ about how the gun came into her possession, and her husband made an odd statement about "therapy."

 

Amy Bishop Anderson

According to Anderson, the trip to the firing range was not a routine outing. In fact, she did not tell him why she was interested in "target practice, and apparently he did not ask. But then this dotty husband, who was questioned along with Amy, when the Harvard professor where Bishop worked received pipe bombs in the mail, says, well...he knew she had a gun, but did not know where or when she got it.

This report says Anderson said his wife had been to the driving range one other time with a friend. He told his her to get rid of the gun, he did not want it in the house or around their four children, ranging in age from 8 to 18:

Ms. Bishop, according to her husband, had borrowed the gun and was considering buying it. Last summer, he said, someone followed her across the campus. "She was worried about crazy students," he said. Mr. Anderson said had he warned his wife: "OK, but you can't carry it to work."

 A curious comment from Anderson about his wife and therapy:

Mr. Anderson said his wife was not taking antidepressant drugs and was not in therapy. "Therapy was moving ahead -- keep pushing," he said. After his wife was denied tenure, he said he had sat her down and said, "You're beautiful, you're smart, you have an IQ above 160, let's figure out what you want to do."

Bishop graduated Northeastern University in 1988 and received her doctorate from Harvard in genetics in 1993. University of Alabama colleagues are quoted saying she was "pretty smart," and "knew her stuff," but her superiors questioned her ability to supervise others

According to Anderson, the trip to the indoor shooting range occurred a "couple of weeks" before she murdered three and severely wounded three, two of whom are still in critical condition.

The first reaction is to ask how a University would have a person like Amy Bishop on staff, but an Illinois law professor has said if Bishop was not booked, the incident would not have shown up on background checks.

He said there are more extensive and expensive types of background checks that might have turned up those incidents.

"But we normally don't do those for a reason and a respect for privacy. They are very invasive," Finkle said. "You can't function in an atmosphere of suspicion."

Bishop was cleared of shooting and killing her 18 year-old-brother some 20 years ago. That case will be reopened, according to police. She reportedly fired three shots in that incident: once into a wall, once into her brother and once into the ceiling. Read the story of what happened next when she left the house with the gun-in-hand.

Related and Background:
Amy Bishop Debra Moriarity: Moriarity Heroic Prof at UAH Shooting Saved Lives 

Amy Bishop Suspect in Mail Pipe Bombing of Harvard Professor 

Bill Delahunt Releases Bishop? Bishop Points Gun at Passing Car 

Amy Bishop Shot and Killed her Brother 20 years ago

Gopi Podila, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson Murdered at UAH  

Amy Bishop is UAH  Shooter