Johnson and Golden were both students at Westside Middle School. The pair rode the bus together, but were not close friends. Together, they were known to
bully other students, and people recalled Johnson talking of wanting to belong to the
Bloods and to smoke
marijuana. The day before the massacre, Johnson told friends he had "a lot of killing to do" and suggested to them that they would know the next day whether they were destined to live or die.
Johnson's later legal troubles On January 1, 2007, Johnson was arrested by the ATF after a traffic stop in
Fayetteville, Arkansas, on misdemeanor charges of carrying a weapon, a loaded
9 mm pistol, and possession of 21.2 g of marijuana. Though the van that Johnson was riding in was registered to him, the driver was 22-year-old Justin Trammell. Trammell and Johnson reportedly met at Alexander Youth Services Correctional Facility in
Alexander, Arkansas, where Trammell was incarcerated after pleading guilty to the 1999 crossbow murder of his father, a crime committed when Trammell was 15. The pair were roommates and provided officers with the same Fayetteville address. Trammell was cited for careless driving and released. Johnson was arrested for possession of marijuana and a loaded weapon and later released on a $1,000
bond. He appeared in court on January 26, 2007, at the
Washington County, Arkansas, courthouse. Johnson was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 24, 2007, for possession of a firearm while either using or addicted to a controlled substance. The US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Arkansas reported that Johnson pleaded not guilty and was released on a $5,000 bond. Johnson's trial began on January 28, 2008. After two days of testimony from the prosecution and the defense witnesses, Johnson was found guilty on a charge of possessing a weapon while being a drug user. In February 2008, just days after his conviction, Johnson was arrested again for possession of marijuana at the convenience store at which he worked and on suspicion of using a stolen credit card. In September 2008, US District Judge
Jimm Larry Hendren sentenced Johnson to four years in prison on the weapon and drug charges. During his sentencing, the judge expressed dismay that Johnson had not taken advantage of the chance he had to reform. He told him, "No matter your sentence, you still have a life; those killed in 1998 do not." On October 7, 2008, Johnson pleaded guilty to a felony theft charge and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Johnson admitted that he stole a debit card left by a disabled man at the Bentonville gas station where he worked and subsequently used it to purchase a meal at a local
Burger King. He also admitted that at the time he was arrested, he was in possession of marijuana. On November 14, 2008, Johnson, then 24 years old, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the theft charge and misdemeanor possession charges. Although Johnson could have faced up to 30 years, On January 23, 2009, Johnson was sentenced to six additional years in prison for a further charge of theft by receiving and financial identity fraud for using the stolen card to purchase a meal from a local Burger King. Circuit Judge William Storey told Johnson, "You continue to run afoul of the law. I am hopeful this is the last time." That brought Johnson's combined state sentences to 18 years. In February 2010, the
Arkansas Supreme Court granted Johnson leave to appeal his sentence by saying that the trial judge should not have admitted evidence of the juvenile convictions during the sentencing phase of the theft and possession trial. Johnson will have to complete his federal sentence of four years after serving his 18-year state sentence. By all accounts, Golden came from a stable household, having a good relationship with both his parents, and he regularly visited his grandparents and great-grandmother. His father and grandfather taught him to hunt. A video surfaced of Golden in a backyard shooting range, and he received a Christmas gift of a shotgun when he was six years old. After the shooting, pictures of a young Golden armed with firearms would be published by magazines, including on the cover of
Time. After he was released from prison on May 25, 2007, Golden's whereabouts were unknown until he applied for a
concealed weapon permit in Arkansas on October 7, 2008, under the name he used until his death, Drew Douglas Grant. His application was denied by the
Arkansas State Police, who noted that he had lied on the application about his previous residences and declared it was illegal for Golden to own or possess a firearm. The assumed name that Golden was using had been unknown until this point because of a
gag order, but police were able to tie Andrew Golden to Grant through fingerprint records during the background check for the permit. He was living in
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, at the time and attending
Batesville Community College. Golden completed his
civil case deposition on May 6, 2008. As of 2017, Golden was said to be living outside of
Cape Girardeau, Missouri while Johnson was said to be living in
Houston, Texas. Their exact whereabouts were withheld by the government for legal reasons. Golden died on July 27, 2019, after a 2013
Chevrolet Tahoe departed its lane, crashing head-on into Golden's 2017
Honda CRV on
U.S. Route 167 in
Independence County, Arkansas near
Cave City, Arkansas, about west of Jonesboro and north of Little Rock. The Chevrolet driver, identified as Daniel Petty, 59, of
Essex, Missouri, was also killed in the crash, according to an
Arkansas State Police preliminary summary of the wreck. Three other people, including Golden's wife, another adult, and Golden's daughter, were injured and taken to hospitals in
Little Rock and
Batesville. At the time of his death Golden was said to be living in
Jackson, Missouri. == See also ==