Tag: Andrew Golden

  • No safety for Golden

    Sheriff Cannot Guarantee Jonesboro Shooter Andrew Golden’s Safety:

    The Sheriff who represents the same county where Jonesboro shooter Andrew Golden used to live says he can’t guarantee Golden’s safety if he returns to Arkansas.

    Craighead County Sheriff Jack McCann said hostility toward Golden and accomplice Mitchell Johnson still remains nine years after they opened fire on those fleeing Jonesboro Westside Middle School during a fake fire drill. The shootings were on people’s minds again Friday, as Golden turned 21 and likely left federal custody a free man for the first time.

    “It’s a concern because there’s still a lot of hostility towards him and Mitchell Johnson,” said McCann, who was the county’s chief deputy in 1998. “I really don’t think any of the family members would do something to them; I think somebody out here would want to do something for the notoriety.”

    Did the sheriff just serve a warning or declare open season?

  • Other Jonesboro shooter set to be released

    Jonesboro shooter Andrew Golden likely to be released Friday:

    Andrew Golden is one of the gunmen from the Jonesboro school shooting. Today is his 21st birthday meaning that more than likely he will be released from jail today. At the time of their conviction, there was a loophole in Arkansas state law that prevented Golden and cohort Mitchell Johnson from being kept behind bars longer than they’re 21st birthday. Johnson was released 2 years ago. Now it’s Golden’s turn. He’ll be out on the streets with a clean slate and no probation.

    It only took Johnson 18 months to get in trouble with the law again. I wonder how long it will take before Golden has his next run-in with the law.

  • Victim’s family reacts to Jonesboro shooter

    Victim’s family reacts to Mitchell Johnson tape:

    Shannon Wright was the teacher who was killed at the Jonesboro massacre. Her husband, Mitch Wright, had the following reaction to the taped deposition of released gunman Mitchel Johnson.

    “If he would just come clean and say yes i shot these people because i wanted to do this, versus just getting on there and saying i didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” he said.

    “He looks at his self as being a victim to this day he will not take any responsibility for what he did.”

    “Have they been rehabilitated?…have they changed? i think the community would like to know…from what i’ve seen and read…I don’t believe so,” said Wright.

    Take responsibility? That will be the day. School killers who survive and are convicted never take responsibility. In their warped world, they’re the victims. Never mind the fact that Johnson and co-coward Andrew Golden killed 5 people and injured another 10.

    Speaking of Golden, he’s set to be released in less than two weeks on the 25th thanks to a now-closed loophole in Arkansas law that at the time of their convictions that said they could only be held until their 21st birthdays.

    And people wonder why I have no qualms about teen murderers being tried as adults.

  • Jonesboro gunman sued

    On tapes, Jonesboro shooter explains, apologizes:

    Jonesboro gunman Mitchell Johnson is being sued in a wrongful death suit by the families of his victims. In a taped deposition he’s trying to make himself out to be the victim. He’s even trying to lay all the blame on the other gunman, Andrew Golden.

    Mitchell insists the event was fellow shooter Andrew Golden’s idea.

    He repeatedly says no one was supposed to get hurt, just scared.

    “I was told that he was tired of people messing with him, and he was going to scare people. He was going to prove a point that he’s not a pushover, and he asked me to help him obtain to obtain a vehicle to get to and from where he needed to go. And that was supposed to be that only,” he said.

    “That was what?” an attorney asked in the deposition.

    “That was supposed to be my involvement in all of this,” Johnson responded.

    Instead, four students and a teacher were shot and killed and eleven people were hurt.

    You know you could have said no because that was a stupid idea. But you didn’t and you took part in the shooting. The only reason you’re out of jail is because of a loophole in Arkansas law at the time regarding juvenile offenders.

    And here come the excuses…

    In the taped deposition we learn Mitchell Johnson was sexually abused when he was younger, used marijuana with his father and was a gang member.

    “I didn’t really think all the way through, I didn’t understand that, you know, what I was doing potentially put people in harm, and that if they did get killed, they don’t come back,” he said.

    Even the stupidest of children know that when you shoot somebody with a gun there is a very good possibility of them “not coming back”.

    Mitchell says he understands why many people think he should still be behind bars. “I ask myself a lot, do I deserve to be free. I don’t think I do, in all honesty, you know?”

    Well, at least we agree on something.