Inquest begins in 1986 Mass. shooting death of accused Alabama professor’s teenage brother

Inquest begins in Mass. shooting by Ala. professor

QUINCY, Mass. — Ten witnesses were questioned Tuesday during a closed-door inquest into the 1986 shooting death of the brother of Amy Bishop, who is accused — 24 years later — of fatally shooting three colleagues at an Alabama university.

Bishop’s parents, Judith and Samuel Bishop, were among those who testified on the first day of the inquest.

Norfolk District Attorney William Keating called for the inquest after Amy Bishop was charged with shooting six colleagues at the University of Alabama-Huntsville in February. That shooting brought new law enforcement scrutiny of her brother’s shooting in Braintree, in the Boston suburbs.

Seth Bishop’s death was ruled accidental at the time, but the report from the judge presiding over the inquest could be used anew by prosecutors.

The Bishops testified for about an hour at the inquest in Quincy District Court, according to a police officer who saw them inside the courtroom. The couple entered and left the courthouse without being seen by reporters.

Tim Murphy, one of the first police officers on the scene after Amy Bishop fatally shot her 18-year-old brother, said he still believes it was an accident. The police investigation after the shooting was proper and complete, said Murphy, who is now retired.

“Everything that was supposed to be done was done,” he said after he testified. “It was a very thorough investigation.”

Murphy responded to the family home in Braintree after the shooting and then helped arrest Amy Bishop at a nearby auto body shop. He said she pointed her gun at several officers who approached her and didn’t drop the weapon until the third command.

“In my own heart, I believe it was an accident,” Murphy said. “I just don’t think that anybody would have done anything like that. I think it was a horrible tragedy.”

Another retired Braintree officer, Kenneth Brady, said he doesn’t know if the shooting was an accident but said the investigation should have been more thorough.

“I thought the uniformed people did what we were supposed to do and the administration let us down,” Brady said after testifying. “I think it could have been handled differently. It wasn’t handled well.”

Brady escorted Bishop’s mother to the hospital where her son was taken and then took her to the police station. He said she was upset and asked to see the police chief.

Brady said Judith Bishop was told Chief John Polio wasn’t in on a Saturday. Brady said a deputy chief later called and instructed the officers not to book Amy Bishop and to release her to her parents.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Nelson, chief of Keating’s homicide unit, said eight more witnesses were expected to testify Wednesday. Testimony is expected to wrap up Thursday, with one final witness.

“Basically, we’re just trying to find out what happened, as best we can,” Nelson said after the last witness testified Tuesday.

The judge is expected to issue within about 30 days a report and recommendations, which prosecutors could use to ask a grand jury to indict Bishop for murder or to say there is not enough evidence to prosecute her.

Tom Pettigrew, a former worker at the car dealer auto body shop who is expected to testify Wednesday, said Amy Bishop pointed a shotgun at his chest and demanded his keys shortly after she shot her brother. He said that he refused to hand over the keys hanging from his belt and that Bishop then went to the parking lot and started checking car doors just before police arrived.

Pettigrew, who was 22 at the time, said Bishop, then 21 and single, told him she had just had a fight with her husband.

Prosecutors who handled the 1986 investigation have said they weren’t told about the confrontation at the auto body shop.

Investigators looking at an old crime scene photo recently discovered a newspaper article about the 1986 killings of actor Patrick Duffy’s parents. The clipping, which was in Amy Bishop’s bedroom, described how a teenager shot the “Dallas” star’s parents with a 12-gauge shotgun and stole a getaway car from an auto dealership.

Keating has said that Bishop’s actions at the auto dealership should have led to weapons charges against her.

Those charges, as well as a manslaughter charge, cannot be brought now because of a statute of limitations. The only charge Bishop could face is murder, which has no statute of limitations in Massachusetts.

Judith Bishop told police in 1986 that her daughter had been trying to learn how to use the shotgun when she accidentally fired it into her bedroom wall. She said her daughter came downstairs for help unloading the gun and again accidentally fired it as Seth Bishop was walking through the kitchen. A bullet struck him in the chest.

Their lawyer, Bryan Stevens, said in February that Judith Bishop told the truth about the shooting and would tell the same story during the inquest.

“It was an accident, no question about it,” Stevens told The Associated Press.

Amy Bishop has the right to attend but will not be there because she is being held without bail in Alabama in the Feb. 12 shootings, which she has said “didn’t happen.”

“For all intents and purposes, it’s impossible for her to go,” said her Alabama defense attorney, Roy Miller.

Huntsville police spokesman Sgt. Mark Roberts said the department does not have anyone at the inquest.

Associated Press reporters Kendal Weaver in Montgomery, Ala., and Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala., contributed to this story.