Other Crap

It turns out that the Alabama-Huntsville shooter had a very dark secret in her past.

The rank-and-file police in Braintree, Mass were (and are) convinced that she killed her brother in anger with a shotgun blast in 1986. As she was about to be booked, the officer in charge of that process received instructions from the chief of police to release her in her mother's care. Not long thereafter, the file went missing from the police records.

From the arresting officer: "Ms. Bishop fired a round from a pump action shotgun into the wall of her bedroom. She had a fight with her brother and shot him, which caused his death. She fired a third round from the shotgun into the ceiling as she exited the home. She fled down the street with the shotgun in her hand. At one point she allegedly pointed the shotgun at a motor vehicle in an attempt to get the driver to stop. Officer Solimini found her behind a business on Washington Street. Officer Timothy Murphy was able to take control of the suspect at gunpoint and seized the shotgun. Ms. Bishop was subsequently handcuffed and transported to the police station under arrest."

From the booking officer: "He said he had started the process when he received a phone call he believes was from then Police Chief John Polio or possibly from a captain on Chief Polio's behalf. He was instructed to stop the booking process. At some point Ms. Bishop was turned over to her mother and they left the building via a rear exit."

From a police lieutenant who went to high school with the shooter: "It was a difficult time for the department as there had been three (3) shooting incidents within a short timeframe. The release of Ms. Bishop did not sit well with the police officers and I can assure you that this would not happen in this day and age."

Amy's mother was the only other witness to the shooting, and it was her testimony which was instrumental in getting Amy free. The D.A.'s report is posted on a local Boston web site.

There is a major conflict between the police officer's report and the account which the shooter (Amy) and her mother (Judy) offered, as laid out in the D.A.'s report. The family report said there were two shots, both of which were fired in the process of trying to unload the shotgun, and that the shooter could not remember anything from the time she fled her house until the time she was arrested. The police found that memory lapse convenient, given that she subsequently threatened more people with her weapon, and had to be apprehended by two armed police officers.

There also appears to be a misstatement of Amy's age in the D.A.'s report on the 1986 incident. It says she was 19, presumably meaning "at the time of the incident." Given a birthdate of April 24, 1965, which is currently believed to be correct, she would have been 21, irrespective of whether the age was based on the time of the shooting (Dec 86) or the time the report was written (March 87). If that birth date is correct, it means that every early news report was wrong. She was reported to be 42 or 45, but her actual age seems to be 44. Birth dates are usually easy to determine. Why the confusion here, both now and in the past? Something smells fishy.