Westside Middle School Shooting | Mitchell Scott Johnson Deposition

In the early afternoon of March 24, 1998, two students from Westside Middle School, located approximately two miles west of Jonesboro (Craighead County), conducted an armed ambush on teachers and students, which resulted in five dead and ten others injured. The shooters, Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson, were arrested and prosecuted for the crime. The incident was one of two school shootings in Arkansas and one of several school shootings across the nation that adjusted school administrators’ and law enforcement officers’ concepts on school security and response plans to violent incidents at schools.

The students and teachers had returned from spring break the day before the shooting. Fifth period was just starting at 12:35 p.m. when a fire alarm caused the student body and faculty to evacuate the building. This alarm was triggered by eleven-year-old Andrew Golden, who, shortly after activating the alarm, joined thirteen-year-old Mitchell Johnson in a field adjacent to the school. This location had a clear view of the exit doors used during a fire drill. At 12:41 p.m., as eighty-seven students and nine teachers evacuated the building, Golden and Johnson began firing at the group with various weapons, including handguns and semi-automatic and bolt action rifles. In rapid succession, Golden and Johnson fired thirty rounds at the group.

Sixth-grade teacher Shannon Wright was killed, along with four students: Natalie Brooks (age eleven), Paige Ann Herring (age twelve), Stephanie Johnson (age twelve), and Brittheny Varner (age eleven). Nine students and another teacher, Lynette Thetford, were injured. Among the wounded students were Candice Porter (age eleven), who reportedly dated and broke up with Johnson, and Jennifer Jacobs (age twelve), who reportedly dated and broke up with Golden prior to the shooting. Although some speculated the suspects targeted specific students or teachers based upon past interactions, this theory was never proven and the victims’ association to the suspects was eventually considered coincidental. After firing upon the crowd, both suspects fled through the woods and were apprehended by the police without further violence.

The police discovered that the boys were attempting to make their way back to a van parked almost half a mile away from the school. This van, taken from Johnson’s residence, contained food, extra clothing, and camping equipment to facilitate their escape. An investigation by the police determined that three handguns were taken from Golden’s residence and an additional four handguns and three rifles came from Golden’s grandfather’s residence. The Craighead County Sheriff’s Office assumed responsibility for the investigation of the incident and charged both suspects with five counts of capital murder and ten counts of first-degree battery.

By all accounts, the two suspects were not close friends. In fact, with
Johnson attending the seventh grade and Golden attending the sixth grade, the students only shared bus rides to and from school. But both verbalized hostility toward others and threatened that something big was about to happen. Johnson lived with his mother and stepfather, and had a difficult relationship with his father. Fellow students reported that Johnson was bullish and bragged about being in a gang. Within the same school year as the shooting, Johnson was assigned in-school suspension three times and was criminally charged for molesting a two-year-old girl. In contrast to Johnson’s overt behavioral problems, Golden led a kind of “Jekyll and Hyde” lifestyle. Golden was not a disciplinary problem at school and was regarded by many adults as a well-mannered and cheerful student. He was very close to his family and shared the family’s interest in firearms by competing and winning marksmanship awards. However, apparently unbeknownst to his family, Golden reportedly demonstrated violence by firing his BB gun at animals and other children.

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