wfn.org | Jonesboro Shooting

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

CONTACT: Linda Green				    (10-21-71B){184}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	 March 26, 1998

United Methodist pastors, bishop 
respond to Arkansas shooting

by Jane Dennis*

	JONESBORO, Ark. (UMNS) -- A pleasant Tuesday afternoon was
turned into unthinkable terror at Westside Middle School here March 24
when two boys wearing camouflage outfits opened fire on students as they
stood outside during a prank fire alarm. 
	The rain of gunfire left four students and one teacher dead, and
10 others wounded.
	Minutes after the ambush, as emergency personnel worked
feverishly to stabilize the shooting victims and get them to local
hospitals, the gymnasium was filled with sobbing and shaking students,
many crying to go home. 
	The Rev. Carlton Cross, associate pastor at First United
Methodist Church here, rushed to the school. 	"People were standing
around crying, saying they just couldn't believe this had happened. By
this time, parents were holding children, families were joining together
in an awesome way," Cross said. "I just did what I could, talked to
people and prayed."
	A distraught Westside teacher described to Cross how two
students on either side of her were among those gunned down, yet she was
uninjured in the spray of bullets that pierced the purse she had on her
arm. Investigators reported 
27 shots were fired during the melee.
	The Rev. John Speed, pastor of Bono United Methodist Church,
arrived at the scene within 30 minutes of the tragedy, after receiving a
call from a volunteer at the school who is a member of his congregation.
"She said it was 
chaos out there and asked me to come out right away," he said.
	"None of our kids were injured," Speed said, referring to
members of the Bono church. "But several were standing very close by and
witnessed the shooting."
	A young girl who attends the Bono church was "standing right by
one of the teachers who was shot and was splattered with blood," Speed
said. "She and so many others who witnessed the shooting are not injured
physically but have 
definitely been affected."
	A check with pastors in the area revealed that none of the
victims were United Methodist. Most of the students at Westside come
from Bono, Cash or Egypt -- small rural communities west of Jonesboro. 
	As word of the shooting spread, frantic parents and friends
flocked to the school and area hospitals. 
	"There was tremendous confusion, with people wanting to know if
their child had been hurt and students coming in wanting to know what
happened," said Rev. Fred Haustein, senior pastor of First United
Methodist Church at Jonesboro, 
who hurried to St. Bernards Regional Medical Center shortly after
hearing the news. 
	Hospital officials later reported that injuries ranged from head
and orthopedic wounds to chest and stomach wounds which appeared to be
from large-and small-caliber weapons.
	Craighead County Sheriff Dale Haas cried as he gave the
announcement at a press conference confirming the shootings and
reporting the deaths. 
	Taken into custody in the woods near the school grounds just
minutes after the shooting were Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden,
11, both students at the school. They were armed with rifles and
handguns and dressed "head to toe" in camouflage, police said. 
	The boys are being detained until an April 29 hearing. They have
been charged with five counts of murder and 10 counts each of
first-degree battery. The boys had not entered pleas as of March 25.
	Police offered no motive for the day's events, but students and
teachers reported that the 13-year-old suspect was angry over his recent
break-up with a seventh-grade girlfriend.
	His voice shaking with emotion, Haustein recounted how "one of
the little girls was coming out of the school and saw her friend hit in
the head" by a bullet. "Another girl came to the hospital and was so
upset because she had 
just spent the night with one of the girls who was killed. It's just
been a very, very traumatic experience," he said.
	Jonesboro is a city of 52,000 about 130 miles northeast of
Little Rock. The Westside school, including an adjacent elementary and
high school, is just west of the Jonesboro city limits. The middle
school has about 250 students in
sixth and seventh grades.
	"All the kids are so bewildered and confused right now," said
Rev. Leonard Higgins, director of the Wesley campus ministry at Arkansas
State University and volunteer youth leader at Huntington Avenue United
Methodist Church. 
	"In a school that size just about everyone has a best friend
who's a best friend" of a victim of the tragedy, Higgins said. "It has
touched everyone."
	Higgins said he was given a list over the phone of the girls who
were killed. "Writing down a child's name, knowing that that child was
killed ... was the most gut-wrenching thing I have ever done," Higgins
said, breaking down in 
tears.
	"It's hard. Most of us don't know what to say. This is the kind
of thing people come to Jonesboro to get away from," Cross remarked.
"This is not supposed to happen in Jonesboro, Arkansas."
	Local and state officials are organizing round-the-clock
counseling services for students, parents and faculty members at the
school. United Methodist pastors are among those volunteering to help
any way they can. 
	The tumultuous day closed with a prayer vigil led by Higgins and
attended by about 1,000 people, mostly students at Arkansas State
University. Higgins challenged the people to care for children in need,
and in turn, perhaps 
prevent similar tragedies in the future.
	"It's easy for people to mobilize when things are really tough,"
Higgins said. "But I'd like to challenge each and every one of you to
serve the children who are so often forgotten. The children you save may
be ... desperate to relieve frustration or may be looking to release
some love as well."
Speed said he remains "so concerned about the children who witnessed
this tragedy. It would be one thing if it had been an outsider who had
done this. But it was one of their peers. There are just so many
questions that can't be 
answered." 
	A long and slow process of healing must take place, Speed said.
"Hopefully, with strong families and with the church and with God's
presence, we'll endure this."
	But like so many others, Cross said he was feeling "just
numbness ... It's so dadgum bad you just function the best you can.
Sometimes you just want to squall and other times you know you just
can't and that you have to be strong.
	"All I know is it's not nearly over for us." 
# # #
*Dennis is editor of the Arkansas United Methodist, the newspaper of the
denomination's Little Rock and North Arkansas conferences.

 

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