Brenda Spencer's Mugshot taken in 1996 | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. EMC EMC In a prison two-and-a-half hours from the scene of the UCSB murders sits the killer who started it all, with the first high-profile school shooting more than three decades ago. EMC When asked why she did the shooting, she responded: "I don't like Mondays. [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ ( )Tj He recently pointed out that she cried frequently at her last parole eligibility hearing, in 2016, demonstrating what he called her continued emotional instability. Brenda pled guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon. 22. Not long after Brenda Spencer went to jail, her father married his daughter's teenage cellmate. He was particularly struck by Spencer's claim that she did it because she did not like Mondays, and began writing a song about it, also incorporating the reporters' "Tell me why?," called "I Don't Like Mondays". 1 0 obj <>>> endobj 2 0 obj <>stream ( )Tj EMC The 1999 book Babyface Killers: Horrifying True Stories of America's Youngest Murderers, authored by Clifford L. Linedecker dedicates the book's prologue to Spencer and refers to her crimes in multiple chapters. (72)Tj 1.647 0 Td )Tj )]TJ We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Spared the death penalty because of her age, Spencer was sentenced to two terms of 25 years to life in prison, running concurrently and with the chance of parole. /T1_4 1 Tf She did it, she said, because she didn't like Mondays. 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td 0 Tc 0 Tw 0.471 0 Td Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Ukrainian soldier takes out five tanks with Javelin missiles, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Hershey's Canada releases HER for SHE bars featuring a trans activist, Moment teenager crashes into back of lorry after 100mph police race. She is now 51 and will no doubt hear of more school shootings and ask herself if they got the idea from what she did on that long ago Monday. California rarely grants parole for people convicted of murder, but it hasnt stopped Brenda from trying. ( )Tj Victims of her crime have opposed Brendas likely parole, stating that their lives were forever affected by her actions. Every new school shooting by a teenager reinforces the argument that she was not uniquely wicked or crazed. ( p. For Christmas in 1978, her father, Wallace Spencer, gave her a semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle. B renda Ann Spencer was born on April 3, 1962. When she was 16 years old, at Christmas, her father presented her with a rifle with an optical sight. Im a little more grateful for my normal Mondays now! He had died trying to help the children and Principal Wragg, killed by Ms. Spencer trying to liven up her Monday., She was lonely and scared, and became more and more depressed, he said. -2.118 -1.529 Td Normally, very few people convicted on a charge of murder were able to obtain parole in California before 2011. /Span<>> BDC Youre shooting these people as they become targets, and yet you told me that you didnt intend to hit anyone.. ( )Tj At various parole hearings since the first in 1993, she has blamed her father and also the influence of drugs for the shooting. ( )Tj On January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer opened fired from her home across the street from Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. [(Scho)-5 (ol Sho)-5 (oters: Und)-4.9 (erstanding H)23 (igh Scho)-5 (ol, College, )]TJ /T1_5 1 Tf EMC Thus, he had first- Brenda Ann Spencer (born in San Diego, California on April 3, 1962) is a convicted American murderer who performed a deadly shooting spree, during which she killed two people at the Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego on January 29, 1979. When asked why she said "I hate Mondays" prompting the Boomtown Rats hit song. -2.118 -1.529 Td On Monday morning, January 29th, she asked her father if she could stay home from school because she didnt feel well, the deputy district attorney reported. She shot him because, by her own words, he was making it more difficult for her to shoot the kids, the representative said. Sometimes Wallace Spencer would say hello when he came to pick his daughter up, and Buell is certain that he knew who she was, and she wonders now what he thought. From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, "School Shooter Brenda Spencer Denied Parole", "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Music (I Don't Like Mondays)", https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brenda_Ann_Spencer&oldid=8201899, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. A 16-year-old girl, Brenda Spencer, who lived in a house across the street from the school, was convicted of the shootings. EMC EMC ( )Tj (61)Tj She wrote to me saying she was glad shed done it because Id made her famous, Geldof said years later. EMC Cleveland Elementary School shooting (San Diego) - Wikipedia It would have been the drugs and the alcohol talking., The commissioner quoted the police negotiators report, which said she had told him, It was fun to watch the children that had red and blue ski jackets on, as they made perfect targets. The negotiator added that she told him she liked to watch them squirm around after they had been shot.. -2.118 -1.529 Td ( )Tj 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td [(\223H)23 (earing 2009,)80 (\224 p. This page was last changed on 2 May 2022, at 09:58. Which is not a good thing to live with., He added: Not liking Mondays as a reason for doing somebody in is a bit strange. January 29, 1979 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td The reasons for such actions are different: alcohol, drugs, insults from classmates or outrages of teachers, problems with the psyche, disturbed peace of mind. Contradicting police reports that found no evidence of drugs or alcohol in her system, she said she had been taking both and was hallucinating at the time of the shooting. Her life and career after prison. In late January 1979, Brenda Spencer killed two adults and injured eight children and one adult because of her hate for Mondays. ( )Tj ( )Tj /T1_3 1 Tf She barricaded herself and 7 hours did not succumb to the police persuasion. /T1_3 1 Tf ( )Tj By then, police were responding to the school shooting. [You] put your gun down, the commissioner observed. 17-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer leaves the courthouse in Santa Ana, California, escorted by sheriff's deputies Waking on the single mattress she shared with her father in the living room of their squalid suburban California home, Brenda Spencer remembers starting that day by taking her epilepsy medicine, washed down with whisky. The blood hadnt been scrubbed from where he had fallen on the concrete. For Christmas 1978 her father, Wallace, had given her a .22 rifle as a present. 0 Tc 0 Tw 8.4751 0 0 8.5 561.6812 581.5 Tm A 16-year-old girl, Brenda Ann Spencer (born April 3, 1962), who lived in a house across the street from the school, was convicted of the shootings. EMC /T1_4 1 Tf Oddest of all, he married his daughters 17-year-old prison cellmate and brought her to live in the house from which Spencer had shot at the school. /Span<>> BDC 35 years later, Brenda Ann Spencer, who killed two and wounded eight, faced her victims in a parole hearing. (97)Tj She was given an indefinite sentence and remains in prison. She was sentenced to concurrent terms of 25 years to life in prison. She started her killing spree to liven up the day. Spencers murderous rampage might have claimed more victims had the police not obstructed her line of fire using a garbage truck. But the lawyer also noted that while visiting Spencer at a juvenile-detention facility after her arrest, the father had met a girl who resembled his daughter, but was younger. In the same year, she burgled the school where she would later kill pupils, vandalised classrooms and shot out some of its windows with a gun. [The father] then went on and had a sexual relationship with her and married her, the lawyer alleged. /T1_5 1 Tf 26. Wallace Spencer got married to a woman younger than Spencer and had a daughter. /T1_3 1 Tf EMC )]TJ [(dic)-20 (tions,)80 (\224 201)40 (5. )]TJ /T1_5 1 Tf BT 25 to life in prison Monday blues are common among teenagers, who are forced to wake up at 8 am to get on a yellow school bus. Michael Suchar, age 56, school custodian, went to the aid of Mr. Wragg and was also shot., Youre shooting people as they come to the aid of others, he said. -0.03 Tc 0.358 Tw /Span<>> BDC (87)Tj In 1993, she tried to prove that she committed the act, being under the drug and alcohol intoxication. EMC [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ Former student She recalled lying in the nurses office, bleeding as bullets crashed through the window. On January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer killed two people and wounded nine when she fired on San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary School with a .22-caliber rifle from her family's house across the street. [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ ( )Tj /Span<>> BDC Brenda Spencer excuse was that she had been abused by her father, yet i dont believe that is a true motive as there are hundreds of other victims and not all of them end up shooting elementary schools. The issue is not owning guns, the issue is mental health. ( )Tj 0.238 Tw /Span<>> BDC 0.184 Tw /Span<>> BDC Spencer was 16 on Jan. 29, 1979, when she opened fire with a .22 rifle on Grover Cleveland Elementary School across from her home in San Diego, killing the principal and the custodian while wounding eight youngsters and a police officer. /T1_4 1 Tf EMC EMC 0 Tc 0.76 Tw /Span<>> BDC /Span<>> BDC My condolences to the principal and the custodian of the Cleveland Elementary School. 0.259 Tw /Span<>> BDC (62)Tj EMC -2.118 -1.529 Td Instead of preparing for high school, Brenda Spencer retrieved a Ruger 10/22 rifle from her bed, a Christmas present from her father. 0.38 Tw /Span<>> BDC 46. She shot eight children, and she shot a responding police officer, Robert Robb, in the neck. FBI profiler Candice DeLong says doll mutilation is something that has been observed in children and teenagers who latter become killers or stalkers. )]TJ / Nothing can console me ever.. Eventually, officers persuaded her to come out offering her a Burger King meal as an inducement, it was reported and found she had another 200 rounds of ammunition. )Tj -2.118 -1.529 Td ( )Tj /T1_3 1 Tf 0.02 Tc -0.02 Tw 9.5 0 0 9.5 48 42 Tm -2.118 -1.529 Td Parents were not too concerned about this behavior of her daughter, her interest in firearms was supported by her father. [(H)23 (art)30 (, )]TJ It was the perfect senseless act and this was the perfect senseless reason for doing it.. /T1_5 1 Tf Brenda Spencer is currently serving his sentence and looks forward to a pardon. EMC Status Bob Geldof, then the lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, read about the incident when a news story about it came off the telex at WRAS-FM, the campus radio station at Georgia State University in Atlanta. After firing thirty-six times, Spencer locked herself in her house for a few hours. Then the inmate proceeded to commit one of the most notorious crimes in the history of this nation., He went on: At 8:30 a.m., the children were lining up to enter Cleveland Elementary School She picked up her .22 caliber, semiautomatic scoped rifle and began shooting children. [(H)23 (are, )]TJ EMC -0.196 Tw /Span<>> BDC 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td Brenda Ann Spencer (@craymondaykilla) / Twitter PDF Brenda Spencer: Sorting Out the Contradictions Jonathan Fast, Unforgiven and Alone: Brenda Spencer and Secret Shame, in, College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences. There was also a statement from the principals daughter. Including shooting each other in school., The comments below have not been moderated, By According to court documents she would open fire from her home aiming at young children waiting to get into the school. /T1_4 1 Tf /T1_5 1 Tf We were all very upset and shocked on the way to the hospital, because no one would tell us Michaels condition. Brenda Spencer sentenced for Grover Cleveland Elementary - YouTube /T1_5 1 Tf /Span<>> BDC Waking on the single mattress she shared with her father in the living room of their squalid suburban California home, Brenda Spencer remembers starting that day by taking her epilepsy medicine, washed down with whisky. EMC I never got the impression from her that she was interested in trying to hurt kids, he said. Are you pretty good with a rifle? he asked. [(H)23 (are, )]TJ Ugh, its Monday are the words that usually follow the arrival of the most dreaded day of the week. /T1_4 1 Tf [(H)23 (art)30 (, )]TJ The custodians brother, Andrew Suchar also submitted a statement, noting that Michael had survived two ship sinkings during the war only to be killed by a 16-year-old in a schoolyard. The issue is in plain sight but nobody in the right places of power wants to say it because its easier to point fingers. /T1_1 1 Tf 2016-02-11T19:23:05-05:00 /T1_3 1 Tf -2.118 -1.529 Td Name /T1_4 1 Tf After a 20-minute shooting spree, eight children and three adults had been hit, among them a police officer who was shot through the neck. ( p. Examinations conducted at the time of the crime, refute this version. /Span<>> BDC 00pzTV\B6 GB%mJ%xe|!s;$nX \wmP`qo`$qa C(,PC!xF`aT$q, Brenda Spencer: Sorting Out the Contradictions. Brenda-Spencer - San Diego Police Historical Association EMC /T1_3 1 Tf ( )Tj His life and death detailed, Where is Amy Fisher now? /T1_4 1 Tf EMC My question is, will there be another boring Monday for her? he asked. /T1_4 1 Tf EMC (103)Tj , money, salary, income, and assets. The death toll would have been far higher if a policeman hadnt blocked Spencers line of fire by parking a rubbish lorry in the way. Despite watching the principal die, he continued saving kids from the line of fire. At her first hearing, Spencer said she had hoped police would shoot her and that she had been a user of alcohol and drugs at the time of the crime, although the results of drug tests done when she was taken into custody were negative. ( )Tj EMC [(H)23 (art)30 (, )]TJ ( pp. [(\223H)23 (earing 2005,)80 (\224 p. "[2] Those comments were the inspiration to the song I Don't Like Mondays by The Boomtown Rats, which reached #1 in the United Kingdom in mid 1979. Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. /Span<>> BDC The principal of the elementary school, Burton Wragg, age 53, had gone to the aid of the students and was subsequently shot himself, the commissioner said. I had never heard of this incident but what shocks me the most about this article was how young she was. )Tj -2.118 -1.529 Td [( p. 7)30 (3. [(\223H)23 (earing 2001,)80 (\224 pp. She often spent her time copying out the lyrics of violent punk songs. /Span<>> BDC However, her method of expressing her resentment is definitely unjustifiable. 29.647 36.706 Td ( )Tj )]TJ 0 Tc 0 Tw 8.5 0 0 8.5 336 453.5 Tm 2016-02-11T19:23:05-05:00 Brenda is the youngest child and has one older brother and one older sister. [(H)23 (art)30 (, )]TJ 0.006 Tw 2.118 0 Td [(H)23 (art)30 (, )]TJ 0.013 Tc -0.013 Tw 13.929 0 Td 0.356 Tw /Span<>> BDC He had then blacked out as a bullet passed within an inch of his heart, exiting his chest. 8.4751 0 0 8.5 318 581.5 Tm We hear about it so much today, and it is incredibly sad that there are people who are willing to do this to innocent children. The ambulance rushing to get him to hospital took a sharp turn and the dead body of the school caretaker had rolled on top of him. ( )Tj I walked around this place, not stepping on the splotches and the puddles, and didnt want to be hugged by anyone. The campaign of Genghis Khan to Russia, Olive oil: composition, properties and application. I wasnt specifically aiming at people, she said. Brenda Ann Spencer was born in San Diego, California, on April 3, 1962. /T1_2 1 Tf It was completely uncontrollable., There was also a statement by a parent, Francis Stile, whose two daughters attended the school. 0 Tc 0 Tw 0.471 0 Td -2.118 -1.529 Td Brenda Spencer's father still lives across the street from the old school, and if Brenda were ever paroled, Cam figures, that is where she would return. Three shots rang out. /T1_4 1 Tf Brenda Spencer, the culprit of this shooting, in case her second statement was true, she should not have opened fire to that school, she should have called the police directly. /T1_3 1 Tf converted Principal Burton Wragg was speaking with teacher Daryl Barnes (who was gave testimony on the episode) when the gun shots started and ran outside to see school children falling to the floor, some first grabbing a body part and screaming in pain before falling. The head custodian, Michael Suchar, known as Mr. She resembled Brenda. ( )Tj Defence experts from Yale University who examined her said she had been in a disassociated state, he said. EMC 89. In 2001, Spencer accused her father of physically and sexually abusing her (he denied the allegation) and forcing her to share a bed with him. -2.118 -1.529 Td With every school shooting. EMC Brenda Spencer: Sorting Out the Contradictions Mass murderer up for parole 40 years after she opened fire on school to /T1_3 1 Tf /T1_3 1 Tf EMC 2 dead9 wounded [(H)23 (are, )]TJ Some lawyers involved in the case believe she will soon succeed in a parole application. Why pick the school across the street? the commissioner asked. /Span<>> BDC -2.118 -1.529 Td 0.415 Tw /Span<>> BDC T* 0 Tw (-)Tj EMC Only in San Diego, the city where the tragedy happened to spare the feelings of local residents, the song was banned for several years. ( )Tj )]TJ /T1_4 1 Tf According to the testimony of neighbors and family acquaintances, parents often spoke about weapons in her presence, moreover, my father even taught her how to shoot. 2016-02-11T19:23:05-05:00 78. A student organization of St. Marys University of San Antonio, Texas, featuring scholarly research, writing, and media from students of all disciplines. From 2005 to 2017, it housed the Magnolia Science Academy, a public charter middle school serving students in grades 68. I was shooting into the parking lot.. ( )Tj Two were killed, including the head teacher, Burton Wragg, who ran outside and was hit as he tried to help injured children, and the school caretaker, who had tried to rescue the head. /T1_4 1 Tf (95)Tj Peter Langman /Span<>> BDC This livens up the day." /Span<>> BDC He is one of many opposing her release on grounds that she remains a risk to the people of his city. 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ [(T)-44.9 (he Cr)-19.9 (iminal P)10.1 (ersonalit)-34.9 (y)20.1 (: V)30 (olume\037)50.7 (1:)-3 ( )]TJ Real Life 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td While on the phone with Stevens, Spencer had stated that she was just shooting for the fun of it. She went on to say that she just didnt like Mondays and did this because its a way to cheer up the day.3, Contrary to her initial claim, she later went on to state in her 2001 parole hearing that she had been sexually abused by [her] father and was waiting for the cops to show up so they could shoot [her].4 This new information has fueled many more theories today about Brenda Spencers true motives in committing such a crime.