Andrew Douglas Golden was born on May 25, 1986, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Jacqueline and Dennis Golden. He was raised in a stable home environment with both parents working for the U.S. Postal Service. Golden had regular contact with extended family members and appeared to live a typical middle-class upbringing. He was described by family members as polite and well-mannered.

At Westside Middle School, however, Golden began to show signs of troubling behavior. He was known for getting into fights, using profane language, and was accused by a classmate of killing her cat with a BB gun. Other students noted that he often made disturbing comments. Three months before the shooting, Golden told a fellow student that he planned to shoot people at school. When brought in by a school counselor, Golden claimed the statement came from a nightmare he had experienced and said it scared him.

Despite his young age and otherwise normal background, Golden became obsessed with violence and firearms. Friends and classmates would later describe how he was fascinated with weapons and had displayed early warning signs that were not addressed effectively. 

On March 24, 1998, eleven-year-old Andrew Golden and thirteen-year-old Mitchell Johnson carried out a premeditated mass shooting at Westside Middle School in Craighead County, Arkansas. The night before, the pair loaded nine stolen guns and 2,000 rounds of ammunition into Golden’s mother’s Dodge Caravan. The weapons had been taken from Golden’s grandfather’s home.

On the day of the attack, the two skipped their school bus and arrived at Westside later in the morning. Golden entered the school and pulled the fire alarm at 12:32 p.m., triggering an evacuation. He then joined Johnson in the nearby woods where they had set up position. As students and staff filed out of the school, the two opened fire. They killed five people — one teacher and four students — and wounded ten others. Among the dead were 32-year-old teacher Shannon Wright and students Stephanie Johnson, Paige Herring, Natalie Brooks, and Brittney Varner, all aged between 11 and 12 years old.

Golden and Johnson were caught by police as they attempted to flee to the van, which was stocked with food and camping gear, suggesting they intended to run away after the attack. The two were apprehended within ten minutes of the first shots.

Due to their ages, Golden and Johnson were tried as juveniles. They were each convicted of five counts of murder and ten counts of battery and sentenced to confinement until their 21st birthdays — the maximum punishment under Arkansas law at the time. They were sent to the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center, the state’s most secure juvenile facility.

Golden was released on May 25, 2007, his 21st birthday. His post-release life was kept largely private under a court-issued gag order. In 2008, his identity was revealed when he applied for a concealed carry permit under the name Drew Douglas Grant. Authorities discovered his true identity through fingerprint records and denied his application, citing his past crimes and illegal possession eligibility.

Golden was later reported to be living in Missouri and attending college. He was also the subject of a civil lawsuit filed by victims’ families, which resulted in a $150 million judgment to prevent him and Johnson from profiting from the attack.

On July 27, 2019, Andrew Golden was killed in a head-on car crash near Cave City, Arkansas. He was 33 years old at the time of his death. Three others, including his wife and daughter, were injured in the accident. The other driver, Daniel Petty of Missouri, was also killed.

Golden’s death closed one chapter of the Westside Middle School shooting, but the trauma of the incident still echoes across Arkansas. Though he never committed another crime after his release, his early participation in a calculated and devastating attack remains one of the most disturbing juvenile mass shootings in American history.