Jonesboro school shooter faces drug charge after new arrest

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Jonesboro school shooter Mitchell Johnson, already facing sentencing on a federal weapons charge, was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor drug possession, police said Monday.

Johnson, 23, was arrested Saturday at a convenience store where he worked as a clerk, Bentonville police Lt. Jon Simpson said. Officers went to the store just before 8 p.m. after receiving a call that someone had lost their credit card there and that the card had been used at the store by someone else, Simpson said.

An officer suspected Johnson, and he consented to a search, police said. Authorities found a bag in his pocket containing marijuana, but he was not charged with using the stolen credit card, Simpson said.

In 1998, Johnson, then 13, and Andrew Golden, then 11, shot at students and teachers at Jonesboro Westside Middle School after Golden pulled a fire alarm. The boys killed English teacher Shannon Wright and students Natalie Brooks, 11; Paige Herring, 12; Stephanie Johnson, 12; and Britthney Varner, 11. They wounded 10 others.