Braintree police Chief Paul Frazier said at a news conference. Bishop, who was 19 at the time, fired at least three times from a shotgun, hitting her brother in the chest after they argued, he said.
She fled, pointing the shotgun at a car to try to get it to stop, then was about to point it toward police before an officer took her into custody at gunpoint, Frazier said. But before Bishop could be booked, former police Chief John Polio instructed officers to release her to her mother, who had served on a police personnel board, Frazier said.
On Saturday, it was revealed that Bishop shot and killed her brother in Braintree in 1986. Bishop, who was 19 at the time, fired at least three times from a shotgun, hitting her brother in the chest after they argued, according to the town’s police chief.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/02/professor_accus.html
In the report, dated March 30, 1987, a Braintree Police captain said that Amy Bishop was released on the day of the shooting because she was too emotional to be questioned properly and because her mother said the shooting was accidental.
Local and State Police investigators returned to the home 11 days later to meet with Amy and her parents individually.
According to the investigation report, after Amy and her father had a disagreement, he left for a shopping trip and she went to her room. Amy decided to go to her parents’ room to teach herself to load the shotgun the family had acquired the previous year for protection after a break-in. She succeeded but could not remove the shells, and the gun fired in the bedroom. Amy then went downstairs to ask for help unloading it and inadvertently shot her brother while her mother watched, according to the report.
Their stories to the detectives contained some discrepancies. Amy’s mother said Amy asked her for help unloading the gun; she told Amy to be careful where she pointed it, and that Amy turned and accidentally shot her brother. Her mother said she screamed and called the police, as Amy ran out of the house.
Amy said she asked her brother, not her mother, for help unloading the gun, and that she was pointing it beside her leg for safety. She said her brother told her to point it up instead. As he walked across the kitchen floor, someone said something, and Amy turned and the gun went off.