Johnson, Estate of Dr. Adriel D. vs. Dr. Amy Bishop, James Anderson & Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of University Alabama Huntsville, et al.
During a routine meeting of the biology department attended by approximately 12 people, Amy Bishop, a biology professor at the university, stood up and began shooting those closest to her with a Ruger P95 handgun.
Concerning the lawsuit and his clients, Mr. Fierberg states, “We have learned from departmental emails that Dr. Bishop’s severe mental instability was known by administrators, some of whom she had threatened, harassed, and hounded following denial of tenure. The University of Alabama Huntsville Provost had clear obligations under UAH regulations, and standards adopted by universities nationwide following previous high-profile massacres, to obtain intervention by university police and counseling services in order to protect staff and students before Dr. Bishop was allowed into a staff meeting where she gunned down her colleagues.”
“It has also been documented that a colleague of Dr. Bishop openly described her as being ‘crazy,’ and students petitioned to have her removed from the classroom. The deaths of Dr. Davis and Dr. Johnson could have been prevented had UAH administrators simply followed mandatory life-safety regulations.”
Dr. Johnson, an associate professor of biological science, joined UAH in 1989. He earned a Ph.D. in animal science and nutritional physiology from North Carolina State University. He taught multiple biology courses at UAH for more than 20 years and during that time was a distinguished and honored faculty member as well as a dedicated UAH alumnus. Dr. Johnson was a leader in the efforts to increase the diversification of the faculty and student body at UAH, including serving as advisor for the Minority Graduate Student Association and Campus Director of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program sponsored by the National Science Foundation.