I’m not sure how many people here remember the 1998 school shooters at the middle school school in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Two teens pulled the fire alarm and shot up a schoolyard of kids with rifles. A loophole in the law forced prosecutors to try them as juveniles. They were released after turning 21. 5 dead and 10 wounded. This was the year before Columbine.
On March 24, 1998, a school shooting occurred at Westside Middle School in unincorporated Craighead County, Arkansas near the city of Jonesboro. Perpetrators Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, fatally shot four students and a teacher with multiple weapons, and both were arrested when they attempted to flee the scene. Ten others were wounded. Golden and Johnson were convicted of five murders and ten assaults, and were imprisoned until each turned 21 years of age. After the 1992 Lindhu
Drew Grant aka Andrew Golden 33 died in a head on collision yesterday.
Justice is sometimes slow, but it finally worked in this case. The other guy is still out there somewhere and probably using a new name.
Authorities said that Drew Grant, 33, formerly known as Andrew Golden (pictured at age 13), died after his car was hit in a head-on collision with another vehicle in Arkansas Saturday.
The victims of the Westside Middle School shooting (top row L to R): Teacher Shannon Wright, 32; Brittany Varner, 11 and Paige Ann Herring, 12; (bottom row L to R) Natalie Brooks, 12 and Stephanie Johnson, 12
Johnson was released in 2005, and Golden was released in 2007. Because they were tried as juveniles, their records were sealed.
How is being true as minors a loophole when they were 11 and 13 at the time?
Yes, it was a horrific day for us in Arkansas.
It was the 2nd worst mass shooting since the Texas University tower sniper.
The shooting at Columbine the following year was even worse.
IIRC legislation was passed afterwards to give prosecutors the option to try juvenile murderers as adults.
It was in response to the outrage of this case. It was too late to do anything about Grant and Golden. They strolled out of custody after turning 21.
It’s pretty common now in most states to try juveniles as adults in extreme cases.
The teacher was also pregnant.
RIH (and that doesn’t meant “rest in heaven”).
I agree. I’m glad to read this. If you’re grown up enough to shoot a bunch of innocent people, you’re old enough to be tried as an adult.
The tragedy is the other driver also died. Apparently his car crossed the center line and caused the head on collision.
It’s brought back a lot of painful memories for the people in Jonesboro. I have friends that grew up there and went to that school several years before the shooting.
I don’t see this as justice. It was just a random accident that had no connection to the past crimes.
I ran across this ABC article from 2016. Golden and Johnson were the only mass school shooters that weren’t dead or incarcerated.
Interesting. I didn’t realize this case was so unique.
The other man, Johnson did more prison time for crimes committed after his first release. He’s been free since 2015.
If you go down the list of mass shootings at U.S. schools, most of the killers turned the guns on themselves after killing classmates and teachers. Several others were killed by police, and a few were taken into custody alive.
But only two are now out of prison, one of whom was arrested with a gun after his release, while the other has since applied for a concealed carry permit.
Not only that, but because Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden were minors at the time of the 1998 shooting – 13 and 11, respectively – when they killed five people in what was then the second-deadliest U.S. school shooting, Arkansas state law mandated that they be released on their 21st birthdays, with their records sealed.
scr4
July 29, 2019, 6:57pm
12
But a law that says juveniles must be tried as juveniles isn’t a “loophole,” is it?
It felt like a loophole. But technically it was just the law at the time.
The ABC article I linked confirmed Arkansas did change that law afterwards.
Sealed juvenile records are protected by Ark law.
In Arkansas, the majority of juvenile cases are sealed, a Craighead County Court official told ABC News, so both court officials and lawyers involved with the cases are not only barred from revealing the details of the case but also from acknowledging the existence – or non-existence – of those cases in the first place.
scr4
July 29, 2019, 7:13pm
14
And why shouldn’t juveniles always be tried as juveniles? They are juveniles.
If this is justice, then justice is always served, for every crime, within a scant few decades no matter what any human does.
I feel that there’s not a substantial difference between a sixteen-year-old killing five people and a seventeen-year-old committing the same crime.
bobot
July 29, 2019, 8:22pm
18
Chronos:
If this is justice, then justice is always served, for every crime, within a scant few decades no matter what any human does.
It’s even served for those who commit no crimes!
It could have been suicide but with the other guy getting killed too. edit - the other guy drove left of center so not suicide
scr4
July 29, 2019, 8:38pm
20
Do you feel all juveniles should be tried the same as adults? If not, you’ve got to draw a line somewhere . (Or multiple lines defining multiple categories.)