A woman opened fire during a meeting of teaching staff at the University of Alabama’s Huntsville campus Friday, killing three faculty members and wounding three others, according to university spokesman Ray Garner.
A professor was in custody Friday night in connection with the shooting, but Mr. Garner said he couldn’t yet name her or the victims, or provide a possible motive. Local television media reported that the shooter was a female faculty member who learned during a biology tenure meeting that she wouldn’t receive tenure, and pulled out a gun and started shooting.
Mr. Garner said no students were involved.
The Huntsville Times reported that Amy Bishop, a Harvard University-trained neuroscientist was taken into custody without a struggle, and that her husband was also detained. They haven’t been charged with a crime. The Huntsville police wouldn’t name the people in custody.
The three wounded included two faculty members and one staff person, Mr. Garner said. Two of the wounded were in critical condition, and one in serious condition at Huntsville Hospital night, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
Erin Johnson, a university sophomore, told the Huntsville Times that she heard screams coming from a room in which a biology faculty meeting was underway.
The university, known for its engineering and science programs, is located about 100 miles north of Birmingham, in a city that is also home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
The shooting occurred around 4 p.m. in a meeting on the third floor of the Shelby Center for Science and Technology. The building, named for Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, houses labs and faculty offices. Mr. Garner said the building was fairly empty given it was late Friday afternoon. Police evacuated the building after the shooting.
A notice posted on the university’s Web site said the campus was closed due to a shooting, and encouraged students to immediately go home. The notice said counseling was available.
The University of Alabama in Huntsville has about 7,700 students.
According to a 2006 profile in the Huntsville Times, Ms. Bishop and her husband invented a new cell-growth incubator which promised to cut costs and maintenance involved in cell generation.
The shooting comes just a week after a student was killed by another student at a Huntsville middle school.
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Three Dead in Shooting at University of Alabama-Huntsville
