14 Facts About Tyrone Mitchell

Tyrone Mitchell was an American spree killer who fatally shot a student and a passerby as well as wounding twelve others who were leaving 49th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on February 24,1984.

Tyrone Mitchell was born to Lee Charles and Annie Lee Mitchell in Montgomery County, Alabama.

Tyrone Mitchell grew up in a South Central Los Angeles residence that was later razed to build the 49th Street Elementary School.

Tyrone Mitchell returned to his old neighborhood in Los Angeles, and moved with Hill into a white, two-story Victorian house at 730 East 50th Street, just 50 feet away from the school that now stood on the property where his childhood home had been.

Tyrone Mitchell developed a reputation in the neighborhood for his irrational behavior and his abuse of drugs such as PCP, the latter of which Hill vehemently disputed.

On December 5,1979, about a year after his return, Tyrone Mitchell was arrested at his home following a dispute with his uncle and landlord, Willie Lee Tyrone Mitchell, about who would relight the pilot light on a water heater.

Hill said that Tyrone Mitchell kept a "high-powered rifle" in the house and, by 1984, occasionally fired it at the sky.

Tyrone Mitchell was a student at California State University, Long Beach, for several years, where he attended a variety of classes.

Tyrone Mitchell wanted to marry Hill right away, but she wanted to wait until their financial situation improved.

At 2:23 pm on Friday, February 24,1984, about 100 students from the 49th Street Elementary School had just emerged from their classrooms and onto the school's playground when Tyrone Mitchell opened fire from the second-story bay window of his house located across the street.

Tyrone Mitchell shot 39 rounds from an AR-15 rifle and 18 rounds from two shotguns down into the crowd of students.

Tyrone Mitchell was found laying face up on the floor of his second-story bedroom, dressed in camouflage pants, a khaki shirt, and jungle-style combat boots, with an empty knife scabbard attached to his belt.

Tyrone Mitchell had killed himself with a single wound to the head from a 12 gauge double-barreled shotgun.

At the time of the incident, Tyrone Mitchell had injured 14 people, mostly children.