Comment:
So much for blaming Muslims, or Asians, or Blacks, if a shooting occurs, in campus or off campus. So who to blame now?!
US university lecturer kills three, wounds three
2010/02/13
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama: A female US lecturer has shot dead three people and wounded three others after learning she had been denied tenure at a northern Alabama university. The incident happened at the University of Alabama in Huntsville yesterday, and college spokesman Ray Garner told reporters that police had arrested one person and detained another.
"At this point we have three dead, three confirmed people who are dead,” Garner said. “We have three dead and three wounded,” he added.
Garner said two of the three people injured in the shooting remained in critical condition while a third was in stable condition at a Huntsville Hospital.
Local television WAFF, citing local authorities, said the shooter was a middle-aged female staff member who had opened fire after learning at a biology faculty meeting that she would not be granted tenure.
The television station said all three fatalities were staff members at the university. Police have not yet released the identities of the shooter and the victims. Classes on the campus were cancelled, and counseling services to the 7,500 students are being offered, according to the school’s website.
The local Huntsville Times reported that a female biology professor had been taken into custody and that her husband had been detained.
Erin Johnson, a second-year student, told the newspaper that a biology faculty meeting was underway at the math and science building, the Shelby Center, when she heard screams coming from one of the rooms.
Senator Richard Shelby, the Republican senator after whom the university centre was named released a statement offering his “thoughts and prayers” to students and faculty members, WAFF said. “I am deeply saddened to hear of this horrible tragedy,” his statement said.
The incident was just the latest in a series of school shootings to rock the United States — most of which have been carried out by students — amid the nation’s ever-prevalent debate about gun control.
The shooting comes more than two years after the southern state of Virginia was left horrified by the April 2007 massacre of 32 people at the Virginia Tech university by a student gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, who turned his gun on himself.
In 1999, two teenagers went on the rampage at Columbine school, Colorado, gunning down 13 people before killing themselves.
In the first six weeks of this year alone several shootings have already been reported around the country.
Last month, eight people were killed in the southern state of Virginia.
A man surrendered to authorities after a massive manhunt in the woods near the historic town of Appomattox, during which he opened fire at a helicopter aiding the search.
And in early January a disgruntled employee at a Missouri plant of a Swiss power company went on the rampage shooting dead three people and wounding five others. He also killed himself in the bloody shooting, believed to have been triggered by a dispute with the ABB company over his pension funds. -- AFP
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A biology professor has been charged with murder over the shooting deaths of three fellow professors at a campus in south America. Authorities say Amy Bishop, an instructor and researcher at the University of Alabama Huntsville campus, opened fire during an afternoon faculty meeting, killing the three colleagues and injuring three other school employees.
Amy Bishop has been charged with one count of capital murder, which means she could face the death penalty if convicted. Amy Bishop, 42, was taken Friday night in handcuffs from a police precinct to the county jail and could be heard saying: "It didn't happen. There's no way .... they are still alive".
Police said they were also interviewing a man as "a person of interest."
University spokesman Ray Garner said the three killed were Gopi K. Podila, the chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences, and two other faculty members, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson. Three others were wounded, two critically, in the gunfire, which Davis' husband said occurred at a meeting over a tenure issue.
The injured were identified as department members Luis Cruz-Vera, who was listed in fair condition, and Joseph Leahy, in critical condition in intensive care, and staffer Stephanie Monticello, also in critical condition in intensive care.
No students were harmed in the shooting, which is in a community known for its space and technology industries. 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 alleged shooter before, describing the woman as "not being able to deal with reality" and "not as good as she thought she was."
Bishop, a neurobiologist who studied at Harvard University, joined the UAH biology faculty as an assistant professor in 2003.
Andrea Bennett, a student majoring in nursing, was in one of Bishop's classes on Friday morning.Bennett said nothing seemed unusual, but she described Bishop as being "very weird" and "a really big nerd."
"She's well-known on campus, but I wouldn't say she's a good teacher. I've heard a lot of complaints," Bennett said. "She's a genius, but she really just can't explain things."
Andrea Bennett, an athlete at UAH, said her coach told her team Amy Bishop had been denied tenure and that may have led to the shooting.
"She went to Harvard, so she is very smart. I can see that her getting denied tenure at UAH would be pretty upsetting," said Bennett.
Another student, Erin Johnson, told The Huntsville Times a biology faculty meeting was under way when she heard screams coming from a conference room. University police secured the building and students were cleared from it.
There was still a heavy police presence on campus Friday night, with police tape cordoning off the main entrance to the university.
The university posted a message on its website on Friday afternoon telling students the campus was closed Friday night and all students were encouraged to go home. Counsellors were available to speak with students.
The Huntsville campus has about 7,500 students in northern Alabama. The university is known for its scientific and engineering programs and often works closely with NASA.
Three people were killed and one other was wounded in a shooting at a University of Alabama campus.
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