Town Jolted by School Shootings, Questions

It was all so sudden, so random and unexpected. And yet it seemed to follow a familiar pattern, seemed to obey the rules of a strange new ritual emerging here in the rural South.

For the third time in five months, it happened this way: First, students were inexplicably gunned down at the one place thought to be a sanctuary within the community, the local school. Then, frantic parents made a mad dash for the schoolyard, a frantic media horde hot on their heels. Then, residents reacted with horror, to the media as much as to the shooting. Finally, parents, residents and media all came together and asked why, one of many questions officials couldn’t, or wouldn’t, answer.

As another two snipers not yet old enough to shave were held Wednesday on five counts of capital murder and 10 counts of battery in connection with the shooting Tuesday at Westside Middle School, events in this Bible Belt city of 50,000 followed along their sadly predictable course.

Since Oct. 1, this was the third mass shooting at a Southern school. The twist this time, however, is that both boys were said to be well-schooled in the art of marksmanship, and neither is expected to spend much time in jail.

The suspects, 11 and 13 years old, said next to nothing at a brief hearing in the Craighead County Detention Center.

Local reporters, who were the only media representatives allowed to attend the hearing, said the boys were tightly guarded on their way into the hearing room, shielded by black curtains and a string of armed guards, amid fears for their safety in a well-armed community that is as mad as it is saddened.

Once inside, the boys were surrounded by their parents, along with parents of their alleged victims. The older of the two boys was said to be bright red in the face and sobbing as Juvenile Court Judge Ralph Wilson read the charges.

When Wilson asked if both boys had been given a chance to speak with their parents and lawyers, the older boy’s father stepped forward and said he hadn’t seen his son in some time. The judge then granted them a conference in a far corner of the courtroom, where the two embraced and wept.

By contrast, the 11-year-old suspect was said to be perfectly calm throughout the hearing, even smiling once or twice.

It was his grandfather who told TV reporters on Wednesday that three rifles used in the shooting came from his private collection. Red-eyed and gaunt, looking as if he’d worried several new wrinkles into his face over the last 24 hours, the grandfather said his “heart is broken,” which was also how countless Jonesboro residents described their town.

“It’s hit everybody real hard,” said Sherry Modde, 20. “People move around so their kids can go to that school.”

“One of my friends gave CPR to one of the girls that died,” said Tiffany Dodson, 16.

“I feel guilty,” said Kim Porter, whose daughter was wounded. “I still have my baby. There’s mothers that don’t.”

Tilton Vanoven, 30, said his cousin Amber was standing in the line of fire but somehow was spared. Vanoven, who knew of the suspects only distantly, also said the younger boy’s father was a crack shot, a member of a local gun club and an enthusiastic booster of his diminutive son’s shooting skills.

The 11-year-old had “well above a 70% average at a 50- to 75-yard range,” Vanoven said. “His dad had taken him to practice to shoot for deer hunting, duck hunting, what have you. Just trying to be a sport about it.”

Law enforcement officials say the suspects crouched in a wooded area just off the school grounds, dressed in camouflage hunting outfits. They apparently fired 27 times at schoolmates, whom officials say were lured outside around the lunch hour with a phony fire alarm.

Killed were four girls--Paige Ann Herring, 12, Natalie Brooks, 12, Stephanie Johnson, 12, and Brittany Varner, 11--along with an English teacher, Shannon Wright, 32, who witnesses say threw herself in front of a sixth-grader, taking a bullet meant for the child.

Ten more were injured, including a teacher still listed in critical condition.

An April 29 date has been set for the hearing that will decide the suspects’ fates. Under Arkansas law, they can only be held as juvenile delinquents and must be released on their 18th birthdays. Upon their release, they will have no criminal records.

Prosecutor Brent Davis implied that his office has been looking into federal charges that might make it possible to hold the boys longer, at least until they’re 21. But he offered little else in the way of comfort for angry and grief-stricken residents.

Some classmates said the 13-year-old boy recently had broken up with his girlfriend and vowed he “had a lot of killing to do,” according to the local newspaper, the Jonesboro Sun.

But Davis wouldn’t confirm the reported motive.

“There’s always a search at this stage for a logical explanation,” he said. “I seriously doubt there will be a logical explanation at this stage for what occurred.”

His confusion and silence added to the sense of deja vu for an entire region.

In Pearl, Miss., where 16-year-old Luke Woodham went on a rampage in October, killing two students and wounding seven, residents responded with prayers and gold ribbons.

In Paducah, Ky., where 14-year-old Michael Carneal fired upon a student prayer group in December, killing three and wounding five, residents responded with prayers and white ribbons.

Now, prayer is on the lips of Jonesboro residents, and white ribbons are on their lapels. A little boy asked about the tragedy by TV reporters answered by reciting Psalm 23.

At Simmons Bank, just outside downtown, people not content with prayer and ribbons drove up and donated money for families of the victims.

“It’s just incredible how much people have donated,” said Rick Christian, a disc jockey at KDEZ, the local radio station that organized the daylong drop-off, which drew more than 500 cars. “We’ve had kids walk up with their piggy banks, folks have driven up and emptied the coins in their ashtrays.”

One teacher wrote out a check for $500, a princely sum in this less-than-affluent farm community.

“Our public schools should be the one place children feel safe,” said Martha Green, a visibly shaken local college student who stopped at the bank to drop off a small cash donation. Five dollars was all she could afford, but it made her feel better, less powerless, to do something.

Green was one of the few residents willing to speak to reporters. At the school, the media were chased away by police. At the local shopping mall, a group of little girls and their mother eyed a reporter coldly when he tried to ask a question, then hissed as he walked away.

Times researcher Edith Stanley in Atlanta contributed to this story.

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Schoolyard Ambush

Authorities say as many as 27 shots were fired in the ambush at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Ark. A fire alarm sent victims outside, where the gunmen opened fire.

What happened at Westside Middle School

Early afternoon

1) Fire alarm goes off.

2) Students and teachers file out of building.

3) Two boys armed with rifles and wearing camouflage open fire.

4) Students and teachers are hit.

5) Police arrive and capture shooters.

6) Emergency crews arrive.

****

Recent student shootings at U.S. schools

Oct. 1, 1997 / Pearl, Miss.: 16-year-old boy accused of killing his mother, allegedly goes to school and shoots nine students. Two die, including boy’s ex-girlfriend.

Dec. 1, 1997 / West Paducah, Ky.: 14-year-old boy accused of opening fire on student prayer circle at high school, killing three and wounding five.

Dec. 15, 1997 / Stamps, Ark.: Sniper wounds two students outside a school in southwestern Arkansas town; 14-year-old boy arrested after a manhunt.

Sources: Associated Press, Jonesboro Sun