Jonesboro school shootings, 20 years later
Saturday’s March For Our Lives nationwide protest against school shootings shares the date with an infamous anniversary.
On March 24, 1998, 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden opened fire on fellow students and teachers at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Ark., about 70 miles northwest of Memphis.
After Golden asked to be excused from class and pulled a fire alarm, he joined Johnson in a wooded area outside the school and began shooting students and teachers as they left the building. Four students and one teacher died in what was then the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. About 13 months later, the Columbine school shooting would occur.
Here are five things to know about the Jonesboro shootings, according to history.com, as we remember on a day designed to highlight school violence Saturday.
Johnson and Golden were apprehended soon after the shootings. They had in their possession 13 fully loaded weapons – among them, three semiautomatic rifles with 200 rounds of ammunition. Authorities also found a crossbow and several hunting knives in a van they had stolen. All the weapons had been taken from the Golden family.
Charged as delinquents
Arkansas law did not allow the boys to be charged as adults because they were so young. Consequently, they were charged as juveniles and sent to reform institutions.
Freed at 21
The two were scheduled to be released on their 18th birthdays since they could not be housed with minors. However, Arkansas bought a facility in 1999 that allowed the state to house the two until they were 21. Johnson was released in 2005, and Golden in 2007. As a result of the Jonesboro shootings, Arkansas changed its law to allow child killers to be incarcerated past the age of 21.
Low profile
Not much has been reported about the two since their release, though Johnson spent more time in prison on unrelated charges. The records of their shootings, since they were minors, were sealed when they were released but have since been opened.
March For Our Lives
A March For Our Lives event is scheduled at Jonesboro High School Saturday, an event that will have added significance for participants there.