Only in America and maybe UK

[UAK]

Jonesboro school shooter free, Johnson released on 21st birthday



JONESBORO, Arkansas (CNN) -- Mitchell Johnson walked free from prison Thursday, seven years after he and another student opened fire outside a Jonesboro middle school killing four students and a teacher.

Johnson, who was tried as a juvenile, left a Tennessee facility on his 21st birthday -- his record wiped clean.

The release angered many in Jonesboro and opened fresh wounds in a small community still coping with the deadly attacks.

"I'll never forget what he did to our school, our friends and our teachers. He's changed our lives completely. We don't even know what a normal life is really," shooting survivor Brandi George said.

George was with two friends -- Natalie Brooks and Paige Herring -- on that fateful day at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro on March 24, 1998. The fire alarm had gone off in the school, and they thought they were heading outside for a fire drill. Instead, it was an ambush.

As the girls were walking outside, holding hands and singing, Natalie and Paige were shot dead by Johnson, then 13, and Andrew Golden, then 11. Two other students and a teacher were killed. Nine students and a second teacher were wounded.

Mitch Wright, whose wife was killed in the attack, finds it outrageous that Johnson is getting out. "You look at the number of deaths and the number of people shot, and it's just not right," he said.

Johnson and Golden were tried and convicted as minors, due to a now-closed loophole in which they could not be held under Arkansas' juvenile justice system past age 18. Federal prosecutors were able to use gun charges to keep them in prison until their 21st birthdays.

The boys had stolen weapons from Golden's grandfather, pulled the school's fire alarm and then waited in the woods for teachers and students to gather outside before they opened fire.

Golden is set to be released in 2007.

Johnson left the facility with a clean record. Because he was convicted as a minor, he no longer has a criminal record reflecting the shootings.

Sheriff Jack McCann of Craighead County, Arkansas, said that means he will be able to legally purchase guns. McCann said neither of the boys has given a reason for the shootings or expressed remorse.

"I think that's one of the major problems everyone has with this case," he said.

The sheriff spoke with Johnson's mother who said her son would not be living in the Jonesboro area after his release. She still lives about a mile from the middle school where the shooting took place.

Johnson's mother was quoted in an Arkansas paper as saying her son wants to become a minister and that he promises to never live in Arkansas again.

That suits most people here in Jonesboro just fine.

"I'm glad he's not coming back to Jonesboro. Too many people in this area would put a hole in him," resident Greg Slayton said.

Whitney Irving, a student at the middle school when the shootings occurred, said she and others still struggle to cope with what happened seven years ago.

"I want to ask him personally: Have you changed? Do you feel sorry for what you did? Have you suffered like we have?" she said. "Of course, there's no way he's suffered as much as we have."

She added, "In my eyes, he's always going to be a killer. I mean I don't see how you can go from being a killer to being a minister, especially just in seven years."


http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/12/jonesboro.shooter/index.html

[Don Rizzle]

not only in america http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=81864.0 and the chances of school children getting hold of guns in the uk is pretty much zero we have very strict gun laws, the small percentage of the population that do have them have to keep them in gun clubs or locked and hidden away in cabinets which the police come round and check. The problems we have with guns almost always come from illegal firearms something the jamacans here are usually into....

[UAK]

not only in america http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=81864.0 and the chances of school children getting hold of guns in the uk is pretty much zero we have very strict gun laws, the small percentage of the population that do have them have to keep them in gun clubs or locked and hidden away in cabinets which the police come round and check. The problems we have with guns almost always come from illegal firearms something the jamacans here are usually into....

lol first read the article I posted.

I was talking about the justice system.

[Don Rizzle]

seen but i can understand why he was released he was a fucked up kid but was only 14 when he did it, you gotta give him a chance however i do agree the sentence is a bit light shoulda been there for about 10 years imo

actually scatch that fully read it now

Sheriff Jack McCann of Craighead County, Arkansas, said that means he will be able to legally purchase guns. McCann said neither of the boys has given a reason for the shootings or expressed remorse.

thats totally fucked up

[UAK]

seen but i can understand why he was released he was a fucked up kid but was only 14 when he did it, you gotta give him a chance however i do agree the sentence is a bit light shoulda been there for about 10 years imo

There's no different between a fucked up 14 year old and a fucked up 40 year old to me.

He should have gotten 15-20 years per murder if he was really mental.

[-Euthanasia-]

^^right on chap

i dont care how old you are when you're killing me

['EclipZe]

^^right on chap

i dont care how old you are when you're killing me

[Fuck Your Existence]

seen but i can understand why he was released he was a fucked up kid but was only 14 when he did it, you gotta give him a chance however i do agree the sentence is a bit light shoulda been there for about 10 years imo

There's no different between a fucked up 14 year old and a fucked up 40 year old to me.

He should have gotten 15-20 years per murder if he was really mental.

damnit,I agree with Kain .

[J Bananas]

he didnt even express remorse? they should lock that little shit back up

[Spicemuthafuc*in1]

he should of got life in prison as soon as he and his little buddy pulled the trigger
man are judicial system is a joke

[ABN]

wow if he didn´t show any remorse they shouldn´t have let him out. i could´ve seen them lettin him out after maybe 15 years if he was extremely sorry for what he had did and the grief he had brought upon a lot of people. but if you don´t show any real remorse for havin killed some innocent people then you´re one retarded motherfucker. i just hope he doesn´t kill anymore people.

[Maestro Minded]

seen but i can understand why he was released he was a fucked up kid but was only 14 when he did it, you gotta give him a chance however i do agree the sentence is a bit light shoulda been there for about 10 years imo

There's no different between a fucked up 14 year old and a fucked up 40 year old to me.

He should have gotten 15-20 years per murder if he was really mental.

so you have nothing agaiinst a 14 years old kid getting for example a death penalty?

[UAK]

seen but i can understand why he was released he was a fucked up kid but was only 14 when he did it, you gotta give him a chance however i do agree the sentence is a bit light shoulda been there for about 10 years imo

There's no different between a fucked up 14 year old and a fucked up 40 year old to me.

He should have gotten 15-20 years per murder if he was really mental.

so you have nothing agaiinst a 14 years old kid getting for example a death penalty?

5 year old kid and up can get the death penalty if they deserve it.

[Dogg_Pound_Gangsta]

i am a firm believer in eye for an eye.  kill that little fucker

[Lieutenant Abdul-Shakur]

only if u were living in U.S u wudve known tht 14 yr olds to get death penalties and logn sentences......tht is only if hez a black muslim or hispanic