Indian professor killed in Alabama shooting; colleague charged (Third Lead)

WASHINGTON - An Indian American professor was among three faculty members killed in a shooting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville by a fellow professor apparently miffed at being denied tenure.

Gopi Podila, chairman of the biological sciences department, and two other biology faculty members were shot dead in a third floor conference room and three others were wounded in the incident Friday.

Amy Bishop, a Harvard-trained biology professor arrested outside the building where the shooting occurred, has been charged with one count of capital murder, which means she could face the death penalty if convicted, media reports said.

University spokesman Ray Garner identified the two others killed as Maria Ragland Davis, professor of biotechnology and plant genomics; and Adriel Johnson, professor of physiology.

Of the injured, Joseph Leahy, professor of microbiology, and Stephanie Monticciolo, department assistant, were in critical condition Friday night.

Luis Rogelio Cruz-Vera, professor of molecular biology, was stable.

Authorities have not released a possible motive for the shooting, but Huntsville Times said Bishop was reportedly upset over being denied tenure.

Authorities say the researcher opened fire during an afternoon faculty meeting at the University of Alabama’s Huntsville campus, killing the three colleagues and injuring three other employees.

Bishop was taken into custody outside the Shelby Center of Science and Technology without incident about 10 minutes after the 3.57 p.m. shooting, sources cited by the Times said.

Bishop joined the faculty in 2003. Her areas of research focused on the role of gases, especially nitrous oxide, on the central nervous system.

Her lab was working on the development of a “neural computer” that would use living neurons - taken either from stem cells or fish. She was also known for her work on cell growth.

The Huntsville campus in northern Alabama, not far from the Tennessee line, has about 7,500 students. The university is known for its scientific and engineering programmes and often works closely with the NASA space agency.

The space agency has a research centre on the school’s campus, where many scientists and engineers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre perform earth and space science research and development.

Mass shootings are rarely carried out by women, MSNBC said, citing Park Dietz, who is the president of Threat Assessment Group Inc., a California-based violence prevention firm.

A notable exception was the 1985 rampage by Sylvia Seegrist, who opened fire in a mall in Springfield, Pennsylvania, killing three.

Dietz, who interviewed Seegrist after her arrest, said it was possible the suspect in Friday’s shooting had a long-standing grudge against colleagues or superiors and felt complaints had not been dealt with fairly.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)