A Missouri man who, as a child, was one of two shooters in the 1998 shooting at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, died in a car crash Saturday night.
Drew Grant, 33, was in a fatal crash at about 9 p.m. Saturday in Independence County. Grant, of Jackson, Mo., had changed his name from Andrew Golden.
He was one of two boys who shot four students and a teacher to death at the school on the outskirts of Jonesboro in March 1998. Ten other people were injured in the shooting.
"After some careful consideration of evidence and a driver's license photograph, the Arkansas State Police troopers are confident that the individual identified in the crash is one and the same as Andrew Golden," said Bill Sadler, a state police spokesman.
Sadler said the evidence that led to the conclusion that Golden and Grant were the same person includes a driver's license photograph, matching birth dates and some personal effects.
Grant was driving north on U.S. 167 near Cave City in a Honda CRV when a Chevrolet Tahoe driving south drifted over the centerline into Grant's lane, smashing head-on into the Honda, according to a state police preliminary crash report.
The other driver, Daniel Petty, 59, also died in the crash. Petty was from Essex, Mo. Two adults and a child in Grant's car were injured, according to the report.
Sadler added that the crash investigation isn't finished, pending a toxicology report. The final report will likely take seven to 10 days to complete, he said.
Grant was 11 at the time of the shooting. The other shooter, Mitchell Johnson, was 13.
According to police, Johnson hid in a brushy area at the edge of the school while Grant pulled a fire alarm. As the students exited the school, the two opened fire with high-powered rifles taken from Grant's grandfather's house.
Both boys were sentenced to spend the rest of their childhoods in a juvenile lockup, in what was then called the Alexander Juvenile Correctional Facility, and to be released by their 21st birthdays.
Grant was released on May 25, 2007.
Johnson and Grant were the only two mass shooters in the United States who were not dead or incarcerated.
Those killed in the Westside shooting were: Natalie Brooks, 11; Paige Herring, 12; Stephanie Jackson, 12; Britthney Varner, 11; and Shannon Wright, 32.
Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd said he was the first officer on the scene of the shooting in 1998. He learned about Grant's death from a story on KAIT-TV Channel 8, a northeast Arkansas television station.
He said he worked more than 30 hours straight after the shooting, which occurred right after students and teachers were beginning their fifth-period classes.
"Emotionally, I still -- I feel for the families involved, and, of course, I feel for [Grant's] family also in this time," Boyd said. "I know it's not easy. It brings up a lot of memories for a lot of families."
Reminders about the shooting are daily -- from small things such as driving by the school to bigger moments such as Grant's death, he said.
"You know, there's tough times that go along with it, without a doubt," Boyd said. "Especially being in law enforcement for 30 years like I have, you compartmentalize lots of things. We deal with so much tragedy and see so many tragic things."
Mitch Wright, whose wife was killed in the shooting, said he feels empathy for Grant's wife and child because he, too, had to raise a son without his partner.
Shannon Wright taught English at Westside. The Wrights' son was 2 when she was killed.
The week before the shooting, the Wrights took a spring break vacation to Disney World in Orlando, and Mitch Wright was in Disney World on vacation Sunday when he got the call that confirmed Grant was dead.
He said he's praying for those injured in the crash and Grant's family.
"There's a lot of similarities," Wright said of the incident. "I hate it. I would not wish this on anyone. I forgave both of these two boys years ago. God has forgiven us for our sins, and I had to learn to forgive them."
Information for this report was provided by Jeannie Roberts of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Ken Heard, formerly of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 07/29/2019