Alabama School shooting?!

[mattg521]

One that fired bullets....seriously though we probably will never know. She could have had a .38SPC S&W Revolver for all we know....but the media will report it as a TEC-9 or an AK-47.

Original reports of the Virgina Tec shooter were that of a "high-powered assault rifle" when he just had a Glock 17 and a Walther P-22.

I just read the first report I've seen yet that said it was an unregistered 9mm handgun.
So glad to hear she didn't make CWP holders look bad.

 

[chemist]

It's a strange story, no doubt...

She murdered her brother with a shotgun 24 years ago, but her mother backed up her "accident" story, so they had to let her go - and then two years later, the detailed files on the case went missing.

The University released the info that she had been denied tenure - but neglected to mention that it was last Spring she was told she'd have to go. This was to be her last semester teaching.

But - her startup work at Prodigy (where her husband worked and she sat on the board) and at her new business venture both looked very promising, having already secured Phase I funding. So who the heck wants or needs to teach those dumb kids? It's not like she was a highly social type anyway.

And yet - she had four kids, and was a regular soccer mom. With a 9mm. Quite a package, this one. What drives somebody to throw it all away when they already have such a diverse and successful life?

Speculation: She thought her Indian Dept. Chair was out to steal her work, and would rather go down in flames than let him get away with it. And race could have been a factor, given that two of her other vics were black. I wonder if we'll ever know the whole story.

 

[Gunner3456]

I keep coming back to the same thought. What if every adult in schools including the janitors and food service workers was required to be armed?

I wouldn't work in a school if (since most) CCW was denied me as an employee. I couldn't protect myself or others in a case like this, or a case like Columbine.

What if every adult in that room was armed? First, it might have been a deterrent and if not, she might have been dead before she could have shot so many people.

This thought comes to me every time there is a mass shooting whether it be a Starbucks near Seattle or Fort Hood or a school or a McDonalds. What if every adult in the place was armed and trained?

$.02

 

[Gunner3456]

It's a strange story, no doubt...

She murdered her brother with a shotgun 24 years ago, but her mother backed up her "accident" story, so they had to let her go - and then two years later, the detailed files on the case went missing.

The University released the info that she had been denied tenure - but neglected to mention that it was last Spring she was told she'd have to go. This was to be her last semester teaching.

But - her startup work at Prodigy (where her husband worked and she sat on the board) and at her new business venture both looked very promising, having already secured Phase I funding. So who the heck wants or needs to teach those dumb kids? It's not like she was a highly social type anyway.

And yet - she had four kids, and was a regular soccer mom. With a 9mm. Quite a package, this one. What drives somebody to throw it all away when they already have such a diverse and successful life?

Speculation: She thought her Indian Dept. Chair was out to steal her work, and would rather go down in flames than let him get away with it. And race could have been a factor, given that two of her other vics were black. I wonder if we'll ever know the whole story.

Also, some people just can't stand rejection. I'd like to know the reason why she was denied tenure. I'd also like to know why she was teaching in Alabama when previously she'd been a professor at the very prestigious Hahvahd University. Would anyone actually choose to leave Harvard for some school in Alabama?

Is it possible that she had a slew of "people problems?" Is it possible that she was just a certifiable biotch? We know that she is a mass murderer, and probably a serial killer...

 

[OPAWY]

She is smart enough to act crazy, like crazy as a fox. Harvard trained professor with probably antisocial personality, entitled thinking. Psychiatrist will see through this game. People with antisocial personality tend to be very smart, and think they are smarter and better than the rest of us peasants. A good psychiatric evaluation will flesh this out easily.
Sounds like the death sentence to me.

 

[Gunner3456]

I doubt that it will be possible to find a juror who won't by then know she killed her brother.

OJ Simpson is in prison, probably for life, for armed robbery where I'm not sure he was actually one of the perps with a gun. Am I the only one who thinks this was a "get even" by the judge and jury for the murders which I believe he committed against Ron Brown and Nicole?

We have another thread going where an armed robber with no priors got a very light sentence for multiple counts - multiple people - of something very, very similar.

OJ got a federal beef for robbery, assault and kidnapping with a deadly weapon. The kidnapping beef was the simple act of holding people against their will, right where they were. Link

Assault is the simple act of putting someone in fear of harm. It doesn't require battery as in "assault and battery."

Depending on how this went down, this woman could get the same federal kidnapping beef (If she required people to sit and listen to a rant before she shot,) and the feds are much tougher than the states.

I should add that murder during a kidnapping becomes "aggravated murder" if I'm not mistaken. If the feds decide to take this due to kidnapping or for another beef, they will also have the murder. That's the death penalty every time.

 

[ZachS]

Also, some people just can't stand rejection. I'd like to know the reason why she was denied tenure. I'd also like to know why she was teaching in Alabama when previously she'd been a professor at the very prestigious Hahvahd University. Would anyone actually choose to leave Harvard for some school in Alabama?

Is it possible that she had a slew of "people problems?" Is it possible that she was just a certifiable biotch? We know that she is a mass murderer, and probably a serial killer...

I'm thinking the latter... Jealous, self-centered witch who committed premeditated murder out of disappointment and anger.


But it's not at all unusual for academics from top-ranked schools to teach in unexpected places. Institutions like Harvard are basically professor factories that (to a pretty big extent) prevent folks with PhDs from more run-of-the-mill schools from finding tenure-track jobs. And Alabama's actually a pretty decent research university - better than any in the NW except probably UW.

 

[Gunner3456]

I'm thinking the latter... Jealous, self-centered witch who committed premeditated murder out of disappointment and anger.


But it's not at all unusual for academics from top-ranked schools to teach in unexpected places. Institutions like Harvard are basically professor factories that (to a pretty big extent) prevent folks with PhDs from more run-of-the-mill schools from finding tenure-track jobs. And Alabama's actually a pretty decent research university - better than any in the NW except probably UW.

But would Harvard allow someone to obtain full professorship there unless they initially thought she was above average? I know people who graduated from Harvard with PHD's but weren't invited to stay there and teach, much less obtain the title of professor.

You can be a PHD teacher (instructor) before reaching professor, and you can reach professor before tenure.

??

 

[ZachS]

But would Harvard allow someone to obtain full professorship there unless they initially thought she was above average? I know people who graduated from Harvard with PHD's but weren't invited to stay there and teach, much less obtain the title of professor.

You can be a PHD teacher (instructor) before reaching professor, and you can reach professor before tenure.

??

Oh, I wasn't trying to say she had any type of faculty position at Harvard before going to Alabama... it would have been more accurate for me to say that Harvard and its ilk are future professor factories. Or faculty factories. Say that five times fast.

 

[Gunner3456]

Oh, I wasn't trying to say she had any type of faculty position at Harvard before going to Alabama... it would have been more accurate for me to say that Harvard and its ilk are future professor factories. Or faculty factories. Say that five times fast.

No, I can't say that even three time fast.

But the point is that she was a professor at Harvard before going to Alabama, according to reports. Didn't she have to be at Harvard for a while as a PHD instructor to reach professorship there? I don't think that Harvard grants many professorships as a percentage of its grads. ??

If so, wouldn't she also apply for tenure at Harvard?

 

[ZachS]

No, I can't say that even three time fast.

But the point is that she was a professor at Harvard before going to Alabama, according to reports. Didn't she have to be at Harvard for a while as a PHD instructor to reach professorship there? I don't think that Harvard grants many professorships as a percentage of its grads. ??

If so, wouldn't she also apply for tenure at Harvard?

It's possible that the writer was using the word "professor" in the sense of "college teacher," not "tenured or tenure-track faculty."

But even if it wasn't, I think I've heard that Harvard also has a huge number of junior faculty members that wash out and end up elsewhere. Gotta get the brand out there, you know...

 

[Gunner3456]

It's possible that the writer was using the word "professor" in the sense of "college teacher," not "tenured or tenure-track faculty."

But even if it wasn't, I think I've heard that Harvard also has a huge number of junior faculty members that wash out and end up elsewhere. Gotta get the brand out there, you know...

You're probably right. I can't find out what she was, except crazy.

"Colleagues (at Alabama) described her as a brilliant researcher but a poor teacher and communicator." Link

"Sammie Lee Davis said his wife, Maria Ragland Davis, was a researcher who had tenure at the university.

In a brief phone interview, he said he was told his wife was at a meeting to discuss the tenure status of another faculty member who got angry and started shooting.

He said his wife had mentioned the shooter before, describing the woman as "not being able to deal with reality" and "not as good as she thought she was." <broken link removed>

 

[OPAWY]

Heck, most liberal college educators don't deal well with reality. That's why they stay in academia.

 

[Gunner3456]

Heck, most liberal college educators don't deal well with reality. That's why they stay in academia.

Doesn't sound as if this one was anti-gun.

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

So who the heck wants or needs to teach those dumb kids?.

Hey! My partner graduated from that very school.

 

[DSbur]

Just a few items I ran across that I thought were interesting, FWIW...

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index...rof-kills-three-at-uah-a-gun-free-school-zone

The Los Angeles Times reported that Bishop and her family "were outspoken Northeastern liberals whose political yard signs stood out a little on their suburban lot facing a cul-de-sac called Scarlett O'Hara Circle."


The University of Alabama-Huntsville is a gun-free school zone, and it is likely that officials will review the tragic incident and determine what measures could make the school safer. Bishop's use of an unregistered pistol in a gun-free zone shows that those who are willing to ruthlessly murder don't abide by gun-control laws &#8212; including gun-free zones that ensure that the intended law-abiding victims will be unarmed and defenseless. NBC News reports that "Gina Hammond, a UAH student, told [the news] that she lobbied the University of Alabama trustees to allow students with gun permits to carry their weapons on campus. She was turned down."

"I'm scared to go back to school... However, if they were to allow me to carry my pistol on campus, I would not be as scared... I'm sorry that nobody in that room had a pistol to save at least one person's life," Hammond said.

Don't know anything about the New American, probably uber right. Just found the link by accident but thought it was interesting.

 

[aslinged]

Let's say you were in the room and were not armed. According to an AP article, the aftermath went down like this:

"Within seconds, the shooting stopped. During the lull, Debra Moriarity, a biochemistry professor, scrambled toward Bishop and urged her to stop, he (Joseph Ng) said.

Bishop aimed at Moriarity and attempted to fire but the gun did not go off. Moriarity then led the charge that forced Bishop out the door into a hallway. Her colleagues barricaded themselves in the room, and Bishop was arrested moments later outside the building."

Two questions: someone just wastes three people in front of you and then their (her, in this case) gun malfunctions do you really just push her out the door and then hide?

And, we know from the article that there was at least one male (Joseph Ng) in this meeting. Gotta guess he wasn't the only one. I could be wrong there. Maybe this woman Moriarty just pushed the shooter out herself, but the article makes it appear a group effort. If you're the lone male in this crowd how do you feel about not being at least involved in ending the situation?

Just asking.

 

[Gunner3456]

Link

"...The teachers were sitting around an oval table, six to a side.

The Harvard-educated neurobiologist and mother of four, who was bitter about being denied tenure, "got up suddenly, took out a gun and started shooting at each one of us," Ng said.

"She started with the one closest to her and went down the row shooting her targets in the head."

After the second shot, Moriarity, 55, dove under the table.

"I was thinking 'Oh, my God, this has to stop,'" she told the Chronicle of Higher Education.

One by one, Bishop shot all six people on one side of the table, starting with the chairman of the department, Gopi K. Podila.

The first three died instantly, the second three were wounded, two critically.

Under the table, Moriarity tried to grab Bishop's legs. Bishop stepped away and, with two hands on the gun, pointed the weapon at her friend.

Her face was scary - "intense eyes, a set jaw," - Moriarity recalled. Bishop pulled the trigger twice, but there was only a click.

It was jammed, or empty. Moriarity pushed Bishop out into the hall and braced the door closed, sure she was going to keep shooting.

"I don't think any of us thought we'd come out alive," Ng said."

 

[aslinged]

So basically five people sat there stunned and got shot in the face.

This woman Moriarty had her act together enough to take cover and make some attempt at self defense. The first one shot, she never had a chance, no doubt.

I don't know but I guess what I'm getting at is when that gun clicked, how many pencils were lying on the table? How many chairs within arms reach? Was the window open maybe? Something...anything, but sending her outside to keep roaming the halls? Not cool.