He was a member of the People's Temple and survived Jonestown on November 18, 1978 by being in Los Angeles, California. Unfortunately life afterwards was never the same. He was a heavy drug user and shot innocent students at Forty-ninth Street Elementary School, Los Angeles, California on Friday, February 24, 1984. He opened fire on the playground of this elementary school on Friday. His rampage killed Shala Eubanks and Carlos Lopes while he injured Albert Jones, Anna Anaya-Gonzales, Steve Gomez, Carlos Gomez and 6 other students, ages 8 to 11. He fled to a nearby house then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. He was born to Lee Charles (July 24, 1931 – November 18, 1978) and Annie Lee Mitchell (July 7, 1930 – November 18, 1978) in Alabama. He grew up in a South Central Los Angeles house that was later razed to build the 49th Street Elementary School. He and his family were members of the Reverend Jim Jones's Peoples Temple, and they followed Jones in 1977 to Jonestown in Guyana. He lost both of his parents, four sisters and a brother in the mass murder-suicide that took place at Jonestown on November 18, 1978. According to his fiancée, 29-year-old Marylou Hill, who would also join the Peoples Temple, he suffered a nervous breakdown as a result. He returned to the South Central Los Angeles neighborhood where he was raised. He lived with his fiancée, Hill, in a two-story, white 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. The house bore a crudely lettered sign "God's Love" and commanded a sweeping view of the school playground.
He was a student at California State University, Long Beach for several years, where he attended a variety of classes. He did not hold a job. His fiancée, Marylou Hill, worked as a preschool teacher.

He was a member of the People's Temple and survived Jonestown on November 18, 1978 by being in Los Angeles, California. Unfortunately life afterwards was never the same. He was a heavy drug user and shot innocent students at Forty-ninth Street Elementary School, Los Angeles, California on Friday, February 24, 1984. He opened fire on the playground of this elementary school on Friday. His rampage killed Shala Eubanks and Carlos Lopes while he injured Albert Jones, Anna Anaya-Gonzales, Steve Gomez, Carlos Gomez and 6 other students, ages 8 to 11. He fled to a nearby house then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. He was born to Lee Charles (July 24, 1931 – November 18, 1978) and Annie Lee Mitchell (July 7, 1930 – November 18, 1978) in Alabama. He grew up in a South Central Los Angeles house that was later razed to build the 49th Street Elementary School. He and his family were members of the Reverend Jim Jones's Peoples Temple, and they followed Jones in 1977 to Jonestown in Guyana. He lost both of his parents, four sisters and a brother in the mass murder-suicide that took place at Jonestown on November 18, 1978. According to his fiancée, 29-year-old Marylou Hill, who would also join the Peoples Temple, he suffered a nervous breakdown as a result. He returned to the South Central Los Angeles neighborhood where he was raised. He lived with his fiancée, Hill, in a two-story, white 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. The house bore a crudely lettered sign "God's Love" and commanded a sweeping view of the school playground.
He was a student at California State University, Long Beach for several years, where he attended a variety of classes. He did not hold a job. His fiancée, Marylou Hill, worked as a preschool teacher.