Gopi Krishna Podila, a 52-year-old Indian-American biologist and chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, was killed on February 12, 2010. He and two of his colleagues were shot and killed during a faculty meeting on the university's campus. The afternoon meeting of the biology department, attended by about twelve people, turned deadly when a disgruntled professor opened fire on her colleagues.
The assailant was identified as Amy
Bishop, a Harvard-educated neurobiologist and assistant professor at the university who had recently been denied tenure. This denial is widely believed to be the motive for the attack. During the meeting, Bishop pulled out a 9mm handgun and began shooting those seated near her. In addition to Podila, associate professors Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson were also killed. Three other university employees were wounded in the rampage.
Following the shooting, Bishop was taken into custody. She was charged with one count of capital murder and three counts of attempted murder. To avoid the death penalty, Bishop pleaded guilty to the charges on September 11, 2012. Subsequently, on September 24, 2012, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The investigation into the Huntsville shooting also led to a re-examination of a previous violent incident involving Bishop. In 1986, she had shot and killed her brother in what was initially ruled an accident. Following the university shooting, the case was reopened, and Bishop was indicted for her brother's murder, though she was not ultimately prosecuted for it in Massachusetts.
