Prosecutor orders Bishop inquest
Alabama shooting prompts reinvestigation of 1986 death
CANTON, Mass. – A Massachusetts prosecutor ordered an inquest into Amy Bishop’s 1986 fatal shooting of her brother, saying there are new questions about whether it was the accident investigators concluded at the time.
The handling of the case has been under scrutiny since Bishop was accused of killing three faculty colleagues in a shooting Feb. 12 at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.
In announcing the inquest Thursday, Norfolk District Attorney William Keating revealed that investigators recently discovered that a newspaper on Bishop’s floor the day she killed her brother described an incident with striking similarities to what Bishop did that day.
He said the paper contained an article about someone killing a relative with a shotgun and stealing a getaway car from a car dealership.
Bishop shot and killed her brother, Seth, with a shotgun at their Braintree home. She then went to a car dealership body shop and tried to commandeer a car, police said. After her arrest, she told police that the weapon had accidentally discharged.
Keating said the inquest would allow a judge to subpoena Bishop’s parents. Bishop’s mother, Judith, was the only other witness to the killing.
Judge Mark Coven, presiding judge in Quincy District Court, will conduct the closed-door inquest and report his findings to Keating, who would then decide whether to issue an indictment.
Bishop, 45, is charged with capital murder and attempted murder in the Alabama shooting. University spokesman Ray Garner confirmed on Thursday that Bishop has been suspended retroactively to the day of the attack and will be fired.