Andrew Golden & Mitchell Johnson

Killing a duck, shooting dogs with a .22 caliber gun, killing a neighbors cat and killing 4 students, & a teacher, wounding 6 other students

Jonesboro, AR

March 24, 1998

Johnson, age 13 and Golden, age 11, shot and killed four students and one teacher during a fire drill at their school, Westside Middle School, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. A schoolmate reported that Golden said he shoots dogs all the time with a .22.

Dressed in camouflage and waiting in ambush on a hill under the cover of brush, the two boys had set off a fire alarm to flush their victims from the school building. In less than four minutes, ten children lay on the ground wounded along with the 4 girls and a teacher who were shot dead. The boys were caught with an arsenal of nine guns between them.

Doug Golden, Andrews grandfather, told authorities that his grandson had broken into his home immediately before the shooting and stole three rifles and four handguns - among the weapons confiscated by police, including a deadly accurate deer rifle. He also stated that Andrew had killed his first duck early in the year.  Golden also bragged to schoolmates that he had killed his neighbors cat.

Johnson was a choirboy attending church up until two weeks before the shootings. He moved to Arkansas from Minnesota two years before when his parents divorced. At the time of the divorce, he became introspective and talked frequently about missing his father. Also two weeks before the shootings, he would wear red clothes every day, because he stated he was in "The Blood Gang".

Johnson is believed to have masterminded the attack, angry that his girlfriend, Candace Porter, had left him.

Golden learned to shoot almost as soon as he could walk. His father is a member of a local gun club and trained him to hunt and shoot targets. Both his parents are postal workers, who worked long hours, leaving the boy often at home by himself.

Reference:

The BBC News Online: Special Report

The Doris Day Animal League

The Humane Society of the United States