Ex-Mass. DA: It’s a ‘tragedy’ Bishop didn’t get psych exam in 1986 probe of brother’s death

Ex-DA: Failure to examine Bishop in ‘86 is tragedy

QUINCY, Mass. — A former prosecutor who’s now a congressman says it’s a “profound tragedy” that an Alabama professor accused of killing three colleagues didn’t get a psychiatric evaluation when she shot her brother in 1986.

Rep. William Delahunt of Massachusetts was Norfolk district attorney when 21-year-old Amy Bishop shot her 18-year-old brother at their Braintree home. It was ruled an accident and Delahunt says nothing contradicts that.

But he says state police weren’t told that after Bishop shot her brother, she allegedly threatened two auto shop workers with the gun, demanding a car, or that she aimed the gun at police.

Delahunt said if weapons charges had been brought, his office would have sought the evaluation.

Bishop is accused of fatally shooting three professors at the University of Alabama-Huntsville on Feb. 12.