Amy Bishop's son, Seth Bishop Anderson, shot dead in Alabama

Fred Hanson, The Patriot Ledger
·2 min read
185

BRAINTREE – Like the uncle he is named for, Seth Bishop Anderson is a homicide victim.

Anderson, 20, died April 19 at a Huntsville, Alabama, hospital where he was brought with a gunshot wound. Vincent Harmon, 18, was charged with reckless murder in what police describe only as "a shooting incident."

Seth Bishop Anderson is the son of Braintree's Amy Bishop.
Seth Bishop Anderson is the son of Braintree's Amy Bishop.

"The victim was shot during an action where Harmon was aware his actions could cause significant risk or bodily harm to another individual," Huntsville police said in a news release.

No further details were released.

More: 'A responsibility to remember': Quincy author's family history shapes WWII book 'Unsinkable'

More: To mask or unmask? South Shore businesses will leave it up to customers come Saturday

Anderson is the son of Amy Bishop, who is now serving life in prison without the possibility of parole after shooting six people, killing three, on Feb. 12, 2010, during a department meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Bishop, who grew up in Braintree, was an assistant biology professor at the school who had been denied tenure and about to lose her job.

Amy Bishop and her family lived at 46 Hollis Avenue in Braintree, off Washington Street, when the shooting of her brother occurred in 1986.
Amy Bishop and her family lived at 46 Hollis Avenue in Braintree, off Washington Street, when the shooting of her brother occurred in 1986.

The Alabama shooting renewed attention of the shooting death of Bishop's 18-year-old brother, Seth, on Dec. 6, 1986, in their family home in Braintree. Police initially ruled the shooting was an accident, but a  reopened investigation led a Norfolk County grand jury to return an indictment charging Amy Bishop with first-degree murder in her brother's death four months after the Alabama shooting.

Bishop has never been tried on the Massachusetts charge. Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in 2012 his office will not seek Bishop's return.

"The penalty we would seek for a first-degree murder conviction is already in place," he said.

Shooting suspect Amy Bishop is third from left in this photo of members of the Braintree High School orchestra from the 1983 yearbook.
Shooting suspect Amy Bishop is third from left in this photo of members of the Braintree High School orchestra from the 1983 yearbook.

Left unanswered are questions lingering around the first investigation, which did not result in criminal charges against Bishop.

In this February 2010 file photo, Amy Bishop is detained by Huntsville, Ala., police on the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus in Huntsville. A woman opened fire during a biology faculty meeting at the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus Friday, killing three people and injuring three others, officials said.
In this February 2010 file photo, Amy Bishop is detained by Huntsville, Ala., police on the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus in Huntsville. A woman opened fire during a biology faculty meeting at the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus Friday, killing three people and injuring three others, officials said.

"Jobs were not done. Responsibilities were not met. Justice was not served," said then-Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating, now a U.S. congressman.  "We have evidence that there was a murder."

Amy Bishop, of Braintree, has been serving a life sentence without parole in Alabama for the 2010 murder of three university colleagues and attempted murder of three others.
Amy Bishop, of Braintree, has been serving a life sentence without parole in Alabama for the 2010 murder of three university colleagues and attempted murder of three others.

Amy Bishop pleaded guilty to the Alabama murder charges, avoiding a trial and a possible death penalty. Now 56 years old, she lives at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Alabama.

Seth Bishop Anderson was one of four children of Bishop and Jimmy Anderson. His obituary in the Huntsville Times said, "He will be remembered as a goofy, adventurous kid that loved taking hikes, watching old movies and borrowing books from his older sisters."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Braintree native Amy Bishop's son Seth shot to death in Alabama