Background
Mitchell Scott Johnson was born in Grand Meadow, Minnesota to Gretchen and Scott Johnson. When Mitchell was seven, his parents divorced and he and his brother moved with their mother to Jonesboro, Arkansas. His mother soon remarried to Terry Woodward, an inmate at the prison where she was a guard. Johnson had a good relationship with his stepfather and brother, and adults who remember him described him as being quiet and respectful. He was a former member of the Central Baptist Church youth choir, later joining the youth group at the Revival Tabernacle Church in Jonesboro.
Following the shooting, Johnson's attorney claimed that he had been sexually abused when he was 6 and 7 years old by a "family member of the day care where he was placed." One year prior to the shooting, 12-year-old Mitchell was charged with molesting a 3-year-old girl while visiting southern Minnesota with his family. However, the record of the case was expunged because of Mitchell's age.
Andrew Douglas Golden was born and raised in Jonesboro, Arkansas to Jacqueline and Dennis Golden. By all accounts, he came from a stable household, having a good relationship with both his parents, and regularly visiting his grandparents and great-grandmother. Both of his parents worked as postal workers, while his paternal grandfather, Douglas Golden, was a wildlife conservation officer in Jonesboro. He was raised to be familiar with firearms and their use at an early age; he was given his first firearm by his father when he was six years old.
Read more about this topic: Mitchell Johnson And Andrew Golden
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—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
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