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Boston Herald attempts to link UAH shooter with Dungeons and Dragons
February 19, 2010 by Nick Salyers
Filed under Features, News
The Boston Herald, in it’s coverage of the recent slaying at the University of Alabama in Huntsville by Dr. Amy Bishop, not only incorrectly identifies the school as the University of Alabama, but also attempts to levy the blame on Dungeons and Dragons, the original gaming scapegoat.
Bishop, now a University of Alabama professor, and her husband James Anderson met and fell in love in a Dungeons & Dragons club while biology students at Northeastern University in the early 1980s, and were heavily into the fantasy role-playing board game, a source told the Herald.
“They even acted this crap out,” the source said.
When questioned about it yesterday, Anderson, 45, a research scientist in Huntsville, Ala., dismissed the egghead escape as “a passing interest. It was a social thing more than anything else. It’s not the crazy group people think they are.”
The article then goes on to imply blame Michael “Mucko” McDermott’s December 2000 massacre in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Police reportedly seized several Dungeons and Dragons books and material, though no official connection has been made.
Some experts have cited the D&D backgrounds of people who were later involved in violent crimes, while others say it[sic] just a game.
For those not following the case, it is pretty clear that Dungeons and Dragons was just about the least of Bishop’s issue. Charged with Capital Murder and three counts of Attempted Murder after the shooting that left three professors, including the Chair of the Biology Department, dead and three other professors and staff wounded, reportedly in conjunction with being denied tenure, Bishop and her husband James Anderson are no strangers to being in the public eye.
First, in 1986, at the age of 20 Bishop shot and killed her brother in what was later deemed an accident. The current Police Chief, Paul H. Frazier, contests that theory, stating that though officers were prepared to arrest and charge Bishop immediately, then chief John Polio called and ordered Bishop’s release to her mother, though he later backtracked, saying he had “serious questions” about the case. Files concerning the case were originally missing, but upon being found, revealed that there was probable cause to arrest and question Bishop. The one lone witness, Bishop’s mother, claims it was accidental, however, that explanation is in question. What is known is that Bishop fired a 12 gauge shotgun 3 times, once into the roof, once into her brother, and once into a wall, before running out of her home, and down the street while brandishing the gun at a motorist, before turning into a car dealership, putting the gun to a mechanic, and demanding he give her a vehicle. Also, possibly important to the case, is the fact that her mother was an elected city representative at the time. The case is under review, but the statute of limitations ran out in 1992.
In 1993, Bishop and Anderson were suspects in a letter bomb case against Harvard Medical School professor and Children’s Hospital Boston physician Paul Rosenberg, who Bishop had been in a dispute with over a negative evaluation. Though the police “focused” on the couple, the case closed without charges being pressed due to lack of evidence. Letters supposedly sent to federal law enforcement agencies never existed, according to an anonymous agent.
Then again in 2002, Bishop was charged with the assault of a Massachusetts woman in an IHOP over a booster seat. Police reports indicate Bishop became angry after finding out that the last booster seat had been given to another woman. When the woman asked to give up the seat, Bishop began yelling profanities at the woman. When the woman still refused, Bishop punched her in the head, screaming “I am Dr. Amy Bishop.” Bishop was charged with assault and placed on probation. Prosecutors recommended Bishop be forced to attend Anger Management classes, though it is unclear whether she was made to or not.
The saddest part of this whole situation, outside of the unnecessary deaths of four innocent people, is the end of four very impressive careers.
Dr. Gopi K. Podila, chair of the Biology Department, studied genes that regulate growth in fast growing trees, and was also the coordinator of an international consortium of institutions that has deciphered the genome of mycorrhizal fungus, a fungus whose symbiotic properties allow trees to generate large amounts of biomass. He helped to start the Biology doctorate program at UAH and was well liked by students.
Dr. Maria Ragland Davis was an associate professor at UAH and was considered a top researcher in plant genetics and molecular biology at UAH. According to then-provost Dr. Lewis Radonovich, she “had numerous research grants, a great publication record, numerous graduate students” and had generally done well in her time at UAH.
Dr. Adriel Johnson was an associate biology professor working in cell biology and nutritional physiology research, and a volunteer at Madison County Boy Scouts, teaching nature and science to the First Missionary Baptist Church troop. He had won the Boy Scout district award of merit, the Whitney Young Award for exceptional work with urban and rural Scouts, and the Silver Beaver, the highest award a volunteer Scout leader can receive. He also was the director for the UAH chapter of the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, and was, unsurprisingly, well liked by those around him.
The biggest surprise, however, comes from Dr. Bishop herself, who’s career arguably was the most openly impressive. Though her career was effectively over after not receiving tenure, the Harvard graduate had worked on many projects, including those involving induction of adaptive resistance to nitric oxide in the central nervous system, and utilization of motor neurons for the development of neural circuits grown on biological computer chips, and, along with her husband, the invention of a cheap and portable cell incubator (below), which could soon replace the petri dish.
What is clear in this incident, other than the fact that Bishop was a typical geek in the 80s and 90s, is that Bishop is also nuts. Seeing as how Dungeons and Dragons doesn’t teach you how to wield either a shotgun or a 9mm pistol, nor does it encourage you to punch women to obtain booster seats. Seems like the Boston Herald is simply grabbing at straws, and unfortunately for them, only the short straw is left.
What I think we can all agree upon though, is that this situation is horrible for all of those involved, and, if you’re into that sort of thing, lend your thoughts and prayers to the family members and to the students and staff at UAH.
Very well written and really hammered down the fine points. I'm considering using this in my English essay.
That's Horrible.
It really is. More stuff is coming out about this chick every day.
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