Professor kills three colleagues

A biology professor at a southern US university was charged with murder late yesterday in the shooting deaths of three fellow biology professors at the campus.

Authorities say Amy Bishop, an instructor and researcher at the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus, opened fire during an afternoon faculty meeting, killing the three and injuring three other employees.

Bishop has been charged with one count of capital murder, which means she could face the death penalty if convicted.

She was caught without incident at the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus, outside a science building, and no students were harmed, according to university spokesman Ray Garner.

Officials said a man was also detained.

Garner said the three killed were Gopi K. Podila, the chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences, and two other faculty members, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson.

Two others are in critical condition, and a third who was wounded was upgraded to a fair condition. The injured were identified as department members Luis Cruz-Vera and Joseph Leahy and staffer Stephanie Monticello. Their specific conditions were not released.

Sophomore Erin Johnson told the Huntsville Times a biology faculty meeting was under way when she heard screams coming from a conference room.

University police secured the building and students were cleared from it. The Huntsville campus has about 7500 students in northern Alabama. The university is known for its scientific and engineering programmes and often works closely with Nasa.

The space agency has a research centre on the school's campus, where many scientists and engineers from Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center perform Earth and space science research and development.

It is the second shooting in a week on an area campus. Last Saturday, a 14-year-old student was killed in a middle school hallway in nearby Madison, allegedly by a fellow student.

- AP