Moriairity: Bishop's Closest Friend in the Department

Amy Bishop killed three fellow staff members at the school she worked at for years, the University of Alabama, and wounded another three, but her crime could have gone on further if she wasn't stopped at least partly by her closest friend in the department, Debra Moriarity.

After Bishop allegedly was set off by being denied tenure at the school, she launched into a shooting last week at the University of Alabama, that left three dead and three others wounded, a friend of the troubled woman who became a killer is now being hailed as a hero.

But Debra Moriarity acted quickly and instinctively after ducking out of the line of fire, as she grabbed Bishop's leg and got into a physical exchange that led to Bishop leaving the room, and then when her gun jammed Bishop was unable to prevent Moriarity from going back into the room and helping the other survivors block her out.

Moriarity says she shouldn't be called a hero, and was just very lucky. But others there will remember her as part of the teamwork and quick action that stopped a terrible tragedy from being even worse. Bishop seems to have had a long history of mental illness, that apparently went unnoticed for years leaving her without the intensive therapy or psychiatric treatment from clinical therapists and psychiatrists, or prescription medication, that might have helped her before she reached this point.She also may have been guilty of previous violent acts that should have put her in jail already.

Moriairity: Bishop's Closest Friend in the Department
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Bishop then stepped out into the hall, pointed the gun at Moriarity and pulled the trigger, the biologist said. "It clicked, and it clicked again, and I crawled right back in the room and shut the door and she was left out in the hall." The survivors burst into action. One person locked the wooden door, another shoved a table against it, others moved a refrigerator into place to further block the door, another called 911, others moved to help the six people who had been shot, Moriarity said...

Moriairity: Bishop's Closest Friend in the Department