Mitchell Scott Johnson was born on August 11, 1984, in Rochester, Minnesota. He spent his early childhood there until his parents divorced when he was seven years old. Following the separation, Johnson moved with his mother and brother to Jonesboro, Arkansas. His mother later remarried a prison inmate named Terry Woodward, whom she met while working as a correctional officer. Despite this unusual circumstance, Johnson reportedly had a good relationship with his stepfather and family.

During his school years, Johnson attended Westside Middle School, where classmates remembered him as quiet but also noted his fascination with guns and gangs. He talked about wanting to join the Bloods and was known to speak openly about violence, once saying he had “a lot of killing to do.” He was also known to bully other students and had a reputation for disturbing behavior. Several girls reported that Johnson had made threats, including toward his ex-girlfriend, who had recently ended their relationship.

According to Johnson’s legal team, he had a troubled past, including sexual abuse at the hands of a caregiver when he was six and seven years old. One year prior to the school shooting, Johnson had also been charged with molesting a three-year-old girl, but due to his young age at the time, the records were sealed. Despite being active in church youth groups, Johnson showed signs of serious psychological and emotional problems. These warning signs, however, were not acted upon in a way that might have prevented what happened next.

On March 24, 1998, Mitchell Johnson and his friend Andrew Golden carried out a mass shooting at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Johnson, age 13, and Golden, age 11, had carefully planned the attack. The night before, they loaded Golden’s mother’s van with camping supplies, snack foods, and nine stolen firearms taken from Golden’s grandfather, along with over 2,000 rounds of ammunition.

That morning, the two boys arrived late to school. Golden pulled the fire alarm just after 12:30 p.m., and when students and staff evacuated, Johnson and Golden opened fire from a wooded area overlooking the school. The ambush lasted only minutes, but in that time, they killed five people and wounded ten others. The dead included one teacher, 32-year-old Shannon Wright, and four students: Stephanie Johnson, Natalie Brooks, Paige Herring, and Brittney Varner—all between 11 and 12 years old. One of the wounded students was Golden’s cousin.

After firing 22 rounds, Johnson and Golden fled toward the van, which was stocked with food and survival gear, indicating they planned to escape and live on the run. However, police apprehended them within 10 minutes. During the investigation, it emerged that both boys had previously talked about carrying out violence. Johnson had reportedly warned classmates not to come to school that day, and Golden had told a school counselor months before that he had dreamt of a school shooting.

Because of their young ages, both were tried as juveniles and convicted of five counts of murder and ten counts of assault. The judge sentenced them to remain in custody until age 21—the maximum allowed under Arkansas law at the time. Johnson was released in 2005, and Golden in 2007.

After his release, Johnson reentered the legal system multiple times. In 2007, he was arrested with drugs and a loaded firearm. In 2008, he was convicted of weapons and drug charges, followed by additional charges for theft and credit card fraud. He received an 18-year state sentence and a four-year federal sentence. Johnson was released in 2015 into a drug rehabilitation program in Texas.

In 2017, victims’ families successfully sued both Johnson and Golden for $150 million in damages to ensure neither could profit from the crime. Golden, who had legally changed his name to Drew Douglas Grant, died in a 2019 car accident at the age of 33.

The Westside Middle School shooting remains the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. middle school and one of the earliest examples of modern school shootings. It sparked national outrage and led to new conversations around juvenile justice, school security, and gun access among youth.