Death hunt in Huntsville

Death hunt in Huntsville Examiner

It was not a pleasant day in Huntsville, Alabama on Friday. At the University of Alabama campus, Professor Amy Bishop shot six fellow professors. Three died; three were wounded. Friday's rampage is unique in the annals of American crime in that most mass murderers are male. It may not be the best analogy, but even in the world of terrorism, a female suicide bomber is rare as well.

It seems Bishop was up for tenure which was rejected, and this meeting Friday involved an appeal. That appeal was rejected too. That appears to be what set off Amy Bishop. Although many facts regarding this case are unknown, she appears to have gone to this meeting carrying a weapon. Should that be the case, it could be an important factor should she stand trial. Taking a gun to a meeting which ends up in murder would seem to require premeditation.

Bishop was married and seem well-liked by her students. As she was led away by the police, Amy Bishop spoke out: "It didn't happen. There's no way. They're still alive". I'm not sure what that's all about, but it may be related to a killer in some sort of delusional state of mind.

Shootings at schools and universities have now become somewhat common. At Discovery Middle School in nearby Madison, Alabama, about a week ago, a ninth grader was shot in the head and killed, as he walked down a hallway to class. Another ninth grader (14 years old) was taken into custody. A few years back a ramapge occurred at Virginia Tech. Columbine began a tragic trend at the high school level back in the 1990s. There have also been shootings at churches over the past few years. As a baby boomer and long-time crime buff, I can say this type of crime almost never happened in the 1950s and '60s. Without going into my long held theory about the beginnings of this modern- day crime era, I will say it did begin in the 1960s, not long after the JFK assassination. In 1966 alone, two mass murders rocked our nation: Charles Whitman's sniper attack at the University of Texas (in Austin: 14 killed/31 wounded); Richard Speck killed eight student nurses later that year in Chicago.

Many are aware of the ever-growing increase of murder that followed: Charles Manson, Ted Bundy and a series of post office shootings in the 1980s. This last series of killings set off a trend of the "disgruntled worker"; an angry and usually fired employee who returns to the office or factory for revenge. Combine that scenario with the rejected spouse or boyfriend who can''t handle rejection, and takes the life of their, alleged beloved. As gun proliferation increased along with an inability to handle rejection of any sort, we seem to have shooting sprees as a result. Does America have an anger management crisis? I guess you could say Amy Bishop was a disgruntled worker, and she had anger management issues. Too bad it was discovered the hard way. What were once considered bizarre and isolated incidents have become a sick norm in the United States. Are there too many available guns or too many people who can't handle rejection without resorting to violence? Even well paid actor Charlie Sheen can't seem to be with a woman without ultimately pulling a knife on her.

There are plenty of possible reasons for our once law-abiding nation's slip into mass violence: Maybe the JFK killing kicked off a psychological break with law and order, so prominent in the preceding decades; Did all the riots, civil unrest, Vietnam War and family breakdown of the 1960s play a role? Maybe the growing availability of television, and it's focus on all this turmoil helped fuel the idea that America was coming apart. As our culture began to fracture in the 1960s, perhaps so many became disillusioned with life in general and couldn't deal with all the change that volitle decade wrought. The seeds may have been sowed then, and sprouted up in succeeding generations. This is not an exact science, so we can only guess or surmise the origins of violence that continues to plague our society. No, criminal acts similar to what happened in Hunstville on Friday are not everyday occurrences, but they have been on the rise for decades. Something has changed for the worse in America over the past fifty years, and it would be beneficial for the future to figure it out, if at all possible. I hate to say it ,but it seems that once the killer genie (or gene?) has escaped the bottle, it may be impossible to get it back in. As the eye-witness or neighbor who discovers they live next door to a killer usually says after the fact; "This kind of thing never happens here" Well, all I can suggest is: Fasten your seat belts folks, it does happen here, there, and everywhere in modern-day America