A man killed in an Arkansas car crash on Saturday was identified as 33-year-old Drew Grant, formerly known as Andrew Golden, who was convicted at age 11 of carrying out a school shooting that killed five.
Golden and his friend, Mitchell Johnson, were convicted in 1998 of planning and executing a massacre at their Arkansas middle school. The boys brought nine weapons and 2,000 rounds of ammunition, which they had stolen from Golden’s grandfather, to school with them on March 24, 1998. They proceeded to open fire, claiming the lives of four classmates and one teacher.
Golden and Mitchell, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, were tried as juveniles and found guilty on five counts of murder. They were both released on their 21st birthday.
The Saturday accident which killed Golden occurred on an Arkansas highway as the driver of another vehicle swerved over the centerline, across two turn lanes and collided with Grant’s Honda head-on. Passengers of Golden’s vehicle, a 29-year-old woman and a 2-year-old child, were also injured in the crash. The driver of the second vehicle, 59-year-old Daniel Petty, was also killed. His passenger, Kathy Tanner, 59, was injured.
Golden’s life after his 2007 release was largely unknown. His identity as Drew Grant was not revealed to be Andrew Golden until he applied for a concealed weapon permit in Arkansas in 2008, which was denied after routine fingerprinting revealed his former identity.
Mitchell Johnson, who gave a tearful apology to the victims’ families in the 1998 trial, has had a long history of legal troubles since his 2005 release. After serving much of the time incarcerated for other crimes such as theft and firearms charges, he is reportedly paroled at present and living in Texas.
