Golden sued by victims' family

JONESBORO — Andrew Golden, who as a boy gunned down four classmates and a teacher in a school shooting 10 years ago, has been found and subpoenaed for a civil lawsuit.

Court documents filed in Craighead County court show Golden, now 21, received the subpoena April 8 to appear back in the city. He and fellow school Mitchell Johnson are named in the suit by Jonesboro attorney Bobby McDaniel, filed on behalf of the victims’ relatives.

McDaniel already deposed Johnson, who put much of the blame for the shooting on Golden.

“I will get into extreme detail with Andrew Golden, how this happened, why it happened and who did what and let him address comments Mitchell Johnson made, especially Andrew Golden being the ringleader,” McDaniel told The Associated Press. “The families want to know more than anything what happened and why.”

In 1998, Johnson, then 13, and Golden, then 11, shot at students and teachers at Jonesboro Westside Middle School after Golden pulled a fire alarm. The boys killed English teacher Shannon Wright and students Natalie Brooks, 11; Paige Herring, 12; Stephanie Johnson, 12; and Britthney Varner, 11. They wounded 10 others.

State courts later found the two boys “delinquent,” sending them to a juvenile prison until the 18th birthday. But federal prosecutors swept in before their birthdays, sending them off to prison on undisclosed weapons charges until they turned 21.

After their birthdays, both men disappeared from view until Washington County sheriff’s deputies arrested Johnson during a traffic stop New Year’s Day 2007. A federal jury convicted Johnson in January of an obscure felony weapons charge.

Golden likely was released last May on his birthday. McDaniel said federal authorities declined to tell him where the two were being held when in federal custody, which stopped him from sending subpoenas.

McDaniel declined to say where a process server found Golden. However, court documents show Golden may be living under two different assumed names since his release.

Golden’s deposition before McDaniel is scheduled for May 6.

“I spent about $1,000 chasing this kid down out of my own pocket because I need to find out what happened,” McDaniel said.

For more information see Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.