Four girls and one teacher were brutally murdered yesterday when two boys, ages 11 and 13, opened fire outside the Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Another female teacher and five girls were listed in stable condition, while three girls and a boy were all treated for injures and released from the hospital. Fourteen of the fifteen shooting victims were female.
The two boys were armed with handguns and rifles, some of which officials believe were semiautomatics. Police suspect that the boys waited in a wooded area behind the school while another student pulled the fire alarm inside the school. When the teachers and students fled the school the boys shot into the crowd. The boys then ran toward a white van, parked a half-mile away, that was filled with guns and ammunition. Authorities have identified the fatal shooting victims as Natalie Brooks, Paige Ann Herring, Stephanie Johnson, all age 12, Brittany R. Varner (11), and teacher Shannon Wright (32).
