Jonesboro, Arkansas, School Shooting

On March 24, 1998, at approximately 12:30 p.m., 11-year-old Andrew Golden pulled the fire alarm inside Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Golden and 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson, both dressed in camouflage clothing, then took a position in a wooded area overlooking a classroom building of the school. As students filed out of the building in response to the fire alarm, Johnson and Golden opened fire.

Using three rifles and seven handguns stolen from the homes of Golden's parents and grandparents, the boys managed to get off 22 shots in under 4 minutes at the people coming out of the classroom building. They purposely aimed high at their targets, with the intention of doing more serious damage. The students and faculty were pinned down by the gunfire, ...