Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
School shootings in Arkansas
In the past 40 years, there have been at least 10 shootings on Arkansas school and college campuses that left 13 dead and 15 injured. Only Westside Middle School in Jonesboro met the criteria set by the FBI of a single incident in which a shooter kills four or more people.
JAN. 7, 1980 Stamps
Sixteen-year-old Stamps High School freshmen Evan Hampton, using a .22-caliber pistol, shot 19-year-old student Mike Sanders twice in the chest and once in the head, killing him. Immediately afterward, Hampton turned in his gun to the principal and waited for police to arrive. He was convicted of first-degree murder and served four years of his 20-year sentence.
JAN. 27, 1981
Fayetteville
James Howard Taylor, 19, a former University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, freshman, entered the Delta Delta Delta sorority house during an initiation dinner and held 80 people hostage with a 12-gauge shotgun. The situation ended when UA police shot and killed Taylor.
JAN. 5, 1989
Little Rock
Willie Jewel Standley, 19, walked onto the basketball court at Henderson Junior High School and shot 16-year-old Edward Burnett with a .22-caliber pistol in the chest. Standley was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
OCT. 9, 1996 Sherwood
Willis Ward Johnson Jr., 14, shot and killed Earl Jameson Routt, 20, with a .22-caliber pistol on a Jacksonville school bus. The squabble began five days earlier when Johnson threw a spit wad at Routt. Johnson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and
aggravated assault and was sentenced to 46 years in prison.
DEC. 15, 1997 Stamps
Eighth-grader Joseph “Colt” Todd, 14, shot two students with a .22-caliber rifle as he hid in the woods outside Stamps High School. Todd told law enforcement he was tired of being bullied. Students Grover Henderson, 17, and LaTisia Finley, 15, survived. Todd was sentenced to five years in prison with 2 1/2 years suspended.
MARCH 24, 1998
Jonesboro
Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, opened fire with multiple firearms, including a .30-06 rifle, M1 carbine and a .38-caliber pistol after Golden pulled the fire alarm at Westside Middle School. A teacher and four students were killed, and 10 others were wounded. Both Johnson and Golden were sentenced to juvenile detention until their 21st birthdays.
AUG. 28, 2000
Fayetteville
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, graduate student James Easton Kelly shot and killed professor John Locke with a .38-caliber handgun in Locke’s Kimpel Hall office, then committed suicide.
JAN. 23, 2008 Jonesboro
Arkansas State University offensive lineman Alfred Louis, 20, was grazed in the lower left leg when someone fired several rounds from a 9mm handgun at a residence hall. He was treated and released at a local hospital. Charges were later dismissed against the person accused of firing the shots.
FEB. 27, 2008
Little Rock
James Earl Matthews, 33, was shot in the stomach and buttocks at close range with a handgun on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus. He survived. Gerald Pride Jr. was sentenced to 20 years on multiple charges.
OCT. 26, 2008
Conway
Kelcey Perry, 19, gunned down Ryan Henderson, 18, and Chavares Block, 19, and wounded Martrevis Norman, 19, with a semi-automatic handgun in a drive-by shooting at the University of Central Arkansas. Perry pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and other charges and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.