SHANNON'S SACRIFICE
It was March 24, 1998 in Westside Middle School near Jonesboro, Arkansas. A total of five people, four female students and a teacher, were killed at a school shooting. Ten people, nine students and one teacher, were injured. The perpetrators of the shooting were two students, 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson, and 11-year-old Andrew Golden, who were shooting in an ambush style from the woods in camouflaged clothes.
On the night before the shooting, Golden assisted Johnson in loading his mother's Dodge Caravan with camping supplies, snack foods, and seven weapons (two semi-automatic rifles, one bolt-action rifle and four handguns), which had been stolen from Golden's grandfather's house. The following morning, the boys drove in the van to Westside Middle School. As they arrived, Golden pulled the fire alarm then ran back to the woods where Johnson had taken the weapons. When the children and teachers filed out of the school, the two boys opened fire. They killed four female students and one teacher and wounded ten others. Shannon Wright was the teacher who was killed in that incident. Witnesses said that when the shots rang out and she realized the danger she jumped in front of the children to save them. In doing so she was shot and killed.
On her mind was one thing. Save the children. She offered her life to protect them and gave hers in doing so.