Numerous tests and examinations proved that Spencer was absolutely adequate, she was not offended at school, loved at home, and she was absolutely sober at the time of the murder. Spencer has since said she does not remember making the remark that inspired a song by the Boomtown Rats and became a kind of anthem for many of the school shooters who followed. EMC I was 9 years old when I was shot, he began. [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ [(H)23 (are, )]TJ Surprisingly, the suspect was identified as a 16-year-old girl, Brenda Ann Spencer, who was living across the street from Grover Cleveland Elementary. The diminutive 16-year-old with bright red hair then armed herself . ( )Tj -0.05 Tc 0.456 Tw /Span<>> BDC A good addition to the gift was the box, which contained more than 500 rounds. [(\223H)23 (earing 2009,)80 (\224 p. Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. What is brenda spencer doing now? )Tj On Monday, January 29, 1979 started out as a normal day. 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. )]TJ EMC Supporters, though, say she would not have shot anyone if her emotional problems had been addressed. Another, Christy Buell, was shot through her abdomen and in the buttocks, and had to undergo surgery in order to repair her intestine.2, When Gus Stevens, a reporter for the San Diego Evening Tribune, began calling around the area to gain more information about the shooting, he coincidentally placed a call to Spencers home where she gave him exactly what he wanted. EMC ( )Tj /T1_5 1 Tf The shooter killed a principal and a custodian as they tried to pull students into safety. /T1_4 1 Tf EMC [(H)23 (are, )]TJ What if they got the idea from what I did?. Brenda Spencer's Mugshot taken in 1996 | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. They made me numb so I didnt feel anything, she said. Brenda Spencers name is largely forgotten now. /T1_5 1 Tf ( )Tj EMC 0 Tc 0 Tw 0.471 0 Td She was later diagnosed with depression and epilepsy and received medication to treat her mental issues. EMC Eight schoolchildren and a policeman who ran into the shots were injured. 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. 58tba4u0)^[=0Ue[]Z|_x-~uIwc|64gk{x6%-m>4K;m/e_9*W>^>iL]&S>SzL^eAyC8qk#;+LGOOO,drP n7a S)f (92)Tj (paths Among Us. She said the psychiatrist had recommended she be hospitalized as a danger to herself and to others. She was sentenced to concurrent terms of 25 years to life in prison. Copyright 2016 by Peter Langman, Ph.D. EMC [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ /Span<>> BDC ( )Tj )Tj 8.3965 0 0 8.5 318 463.5 Tm 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td EMC Actor ( )Tj 72. The look at Brenda Foster gave me was enough to scare any young child to death.. Dates -2.118 -1.529 Td ( )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. (86)Tj Police were told she had fantasised about being a sniper and would hunt birds around the neighbourhood. Out of the 30 rounds she fired, she hit eleven people with eleven hits, meaning she hit them all once. Her claims were treated with scepticism, given that she had never mentioned them before. Thrill Killers. ( )Tj (100)Tj EMC This article did a good job of explaining what had happened that day and what her motive was. Brenda Spencer is America's first female school shooter. Her father still lives in the house where the shooting took place. On April 4, 1980, a day after her 18th birthday, she was sentenced to 25 years to life. 0.298 Tw /Span<>> BDC This was a Monday morning in January 1979. (A Pro\036le for Change. /T1_3 1 Tf EMC Defence experts from Yale University who examined her said she had been in a disassociated state, he said. /T1_3 1 Tf [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ [(\223H)23 (earing 2009,)80 (\224 p. These conversations began a week before the sad event, but, unfortunately, no one paid any attention to them. /GS0 gs I didnt think it all the way through, Several children were injured by gunshot wounds. Mr McGlinn says such a troubled young girl should never have been allowed near guns and believes her claims that she was hallucinating under the influence of drugs and alchohol. Spencer who says she was gay from birth lived with her university technician father from the age of nine after her parents broke up. Her father left home for work around 7 oclock in the morning. EMC 1)40.1 (3, 14. . A year before the shooting, school officials told her parents they believed she was a suicide risk but her father ordered them to leave his family alone. [(WWW)55 (.SCHOOLSHOOTERS.INFO)]TJ We were all very upset and shocked on the way to the hospital, because no one would tell us Michaels condition. EMC 89. -0.03 Tc 0.358 Tw /Span<>> BDC /T1_3 1 Tf 0.4 Tw /Span<>> BDC 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td A neighbor once said when she tried to be friends with Brenda at age 5 Brenda ripped the doll of the neighbor's head off. [(H)23 (art)30 (, )]TJ 0 Tc 0 Tw 8.4751 0 0 8.5 561.6812 581.5 Tm 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td EMC Victims of her crime have opposed Brendas likely parole, stating that their lives were forever affected by her actions. Geldof has later mentioned that, "[Spencer] wrote to me saying 'she was glad she'd done it because I'd made her famous,' which is not a good thing to live with. 52\22653. ( )Tj /T1_0 1 Tf /T1_4 1 Tf He survived but remained terrorized. Other statements came from children now grown. [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ 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. 2 dead9 wounded /T1_4 1 Tf (76)Tj (77)Tj We don't have much information about She's past relationship and any previous engaged. [The father] then went on and had a sexual relationship with her and married her, the lawyer alleged. The beatings, the touching, the emotional abuse. She went on to state that no one, not teachers or counselors, gave her assistance through this, so she simply thought that this was how the world and how life worked. 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td /T1_3 1 Tf 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td /Span<>> BDC Tom Leonard for the Daily Mail With every school shooting. /Span<>> BDC 0 -1.176 TD The composition was released a month after the tragedy and immediately became popular. EMC Brenda loved to listen to stories with a tragic end, she liked the details of the bloody murders. EMC EMC Four times the murderer asked for parole, and four times she was refused. 1.647 0 Td [(H)23 (art)30 (, )]TJ We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 0.521 Tw /Span<>> BDC As she continued shooting, SWAT officers surrounded the house and evacuated the school from the rear. EMC ( )Tj 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. The search showed that there was a bank of beer in the house, there was a bottle of whiskey, but the policemen who detained the criminal stated that she was sober. Appearance -0.003 Tc -0.051 Tw 0.476 0 Td 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td Nobody at the school knew where the shots were coming from. (89)Tj /T1_4 1 Tf 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td But after 13 years of working in a psychiatric hospital, she said she can understand why she went down the road she did she never got the help she needed. EMC 42. I dont know why he bought me a gun, she said. ( )Tj EMC In 1993, she tried to prove that she committed the act, being under the drug and alcohol intoxication. And apparently you two slept in the same bed?. Spencers absent mother, Dot, claimed she suspected father and daughter had an unhealthy relationship but insisted she couldnt afford a lawyer to fight for custody. A few weeks ago, she marked her 40th anniversary in prison after successive parole applications had been refused. I am from a town a few miles from Santa Fe High School where the 2018 shooting took place. /Span<>> BDC Full name is Brenda Ann Spencer. 79, 80. 0.305 Tw /Span<>> BDC Despite Spencer still being imprisoned, the pain and suffering of the casualties and their families would not magically disappear. Spencer shot and killed Wragg as he tried to help children. I dont remember aiming at anybody, Spencer insisted. We found her singing as she gardened in the backyard, the son recalled. /Span<>> BDC (68)Tj /Span<>> BDC 21, 50. False 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td 25\22626. 0.358 Tw /Span<>> BDC Lane: F)10 (urther Re\024ec)-20 (tions,)80 (\224 2016. /Span<>> BDC EMC As of May 2020, she remains in prison. Even as an adult, he was gripped by an abiding fear of leaving his back exposed in restaurants he always sits with his back to the wall. On the morning of Monday, January 29, 1979, Spencer began shooting at children waiting for Principal Burton Wragg (age 53) to open the gates to Grover Cleveland Elementary. 32. She said she had been under the influence of alcohol, pot, and downers. Including shooting each other in school., The comments below have not been moderated, By EMC Full name is Brenda Ann Spencer. /Span<>> BDC ( )Tj EMC 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td xmp.did:84468427512268118C14E112F7938AD6 And then there was a statement by Steve Wragg, son of Principal Burton Wragg. -2.118 -1.529 Td For Christmas 1978, he gave her a Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle with a telescopic sight and 500 rounds of ammunition. He was then a part of the Allied occupying forces in northern Germany. The sighs floating in the air are palpable and nothing seems possible. On that day, students of Grover Cleveland's primary school were on the street, they waited while their teacher Burton Regg opened the gate to them. Well, thats pretty good shooting to hit as many folks as you did if youre not trying to hit anybody from across the street, the commissioner noted. (\027)Tj In April 1980, Spencer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. 0.02 Tc -0.02 Tw 9.5 0 0 9.5 48 42 Tm )]TJ 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. I find it really interesting to build this article and its literary resources to hook the reader. Brenda proceeded to wound seven more children with stunning accuracy. [( 2016 by P)20 (eter Langman, P)5 (h.D)17.1 (. I was 10 years old when I was shot by Brenda Spencer.. 2016-02-11T19:23:05-05:00 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. M.O. /T1_4 1 Tf Monday blues are common among teenagers, who are forced to wake up at 8 am to get on a yellow school bus. I dont like Mondays, she famously replied when asked her motive. EMC -2.118 -1.529 Td Her behaviour including telling a friend she wanted to kill someone, probably a police officer became increasingly disturbing. No, I wasnt feeling good, she replied. That had been just before Christmas. ( )Tj Block 10A, Row 2, Space 46. We have estimated The tragedy happened on Monday, so the killer ended her speech with the phrase: "I just do not like Mondays". You hit one of those fellows, too, the commissioner noted. (72)Tj Brenda Spencer is a sixteen-year-old murderer who entered the top five criminals who participated in the most massive mass shootings of schoolchildren in the history of world criminalistics. The pain these children must have felt is unforgivable. EMC He blames total negligence and unbelievably bad parenting by her father in giving her the gun. /T1_3 1 Tf [( pp. After her parents separated, she lived with her father, Wallace Spencer, in poverty. /T1_3 1 Tf -2.118 -1.529 Td Later, of course, I had nightmares, and to this day I fear that someone is pointing a gun at me when Im walking in open places., And recently, my boyfriend wanted me to go to a shooting range with him because its a sport he enjoys, and although I was hesitant, I thought, Well, its been a long time, Ill probably be OK. And I sat there as he shot the silhouette, but he had to stop because I started frantically crying. /T1_4 1 Tf /Span<>> BDC 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. I think that article such as these, that have to do with people like this that kill or shoot up schools filled with little kids are so heartbreaking to read. A)40 (vailable at )]TJ EMC I think her premature death in 1991 was at least partly the result of this traumatic experience.. , money, salary, income, and assets. /Span<>> BDC /Span<>> BDC Michael Suchar, the schools custodian, ran outside with a blanket in order to cover Wragg and keep him from going into shock, but he quickly became the second victim of Spencers shooting and lost his life. )Tj [(\223H)23 (earing 2001,)80 (\224 p. I was shooting into the parking lot.. People are recognising that todays young are capable of doing anything, he said. (66)Tj /Span<>> BDC -0.03 Tc 0.537 Tw /Span<>> BDC 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". What about your mother? the commissioner asked. EMC (83)Tj 0 Tc 0 Tw 0.471 0 Td One survivor of the 1979 shooting described herself as "shocked, saddened, horrified" by the eerie similarities to their own traumatic experience. -2.118 -1.529 Td /T1_4 1 Tf She then spoke words that have gained ever more truth after ever more mass shootings. 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td A teenage friend indicated it had been a planned attack, telling police that, days beforehand, Spencer warned him she was planning to do something that would get on TV on Monday. /T1_3 1 Tf The reasons for such actions are different: alcohol, drugs, insults from classmates or outrages of teachers, problems with the psyche, disturbed peace of mind. ( )Tj 0.013 Tc -0.013 Tw 13.929 0 Td One was from Wilfred Suchar, son of the murdered custodian, Michael Suchar. )]TJ ( )Tj ( )Tj They slept on a single mattress on the living room floor. The second victim, Michael Sucher, got his bullet, trying to save his fallen colleague. The schools principal, Burton Wragg, while rushing outside, was hit on the shoulder and chest with Spencers bullets and eventually died. /T1_4 1 Tf EMC The commissioner asked if she remembered the police coming, and she said she did. /T1_5 1 Tf Examinations conducted at the time of the crime, refute this version. Shooting (.22 caliber rifle) /T1_3 1 Tf Justice was ruthless. A comment so flippant, sarcastic and callous as "I don't like Mondays" as a motivation for shooting up a school tells FBI profiler Candice DeLong that Brenda Spencer was not mentally ill at the time of the shooting and knew what she was doing. I walked around this place, not stepping on the splotches and the puddles, and didnt want to be hugged by anyone. ( )Tj [(201)40 (5. Charged as an adult, she pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 25 years. EMC A former student named Cam Miller attended the hearing in person and offered the last statement. /T1_2 1 Tf B renda Ann Spencer was born on April 3, 1962. /T1_3 1 Tf -2.118 -1.529 Td 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td )]TJ -2.118 -1.529 Td The ruthless shooter continued shooting until the police blocked the school entrance by moving a garbage truck in front of it. I was just set on committing suicide., I am sorry you had to go through everything you went through, but what Im trying to do is find out why you would open fire and kill two people and hurt so many others, the commissioner said. Thirty years later, Miller beheld her in another proceeding and asked the board not to parole her. ( )Tj They slept on a single mattress on the living room floor, with empty alcohol . [(and )0.5 (A)4.9 (dult P)10 (erpetrat)-10.1 (ors. /T1_4 1 Tf ( )Tj Nothing was different for Brenda Ann Spencer; she was one of the girls who typically hated At least one of Spencers victims agrees. He said his wife had heard on the radio of a shooting at the school and called him at work. EMC [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ A model prisoner, she wants to be a forklift truck driver if she ever regains her freedom. EMC EMC Are you pretty good with a rifle? he asked. She barricaded herself and 7 hours did not succumb to the police persuasion. /T1_5 1 Tf [(H)23 (art)30 (, )]TJ /T1_4 1 Tf [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ (103)Tj /T1_3 1 Tf 0.237 Tw /Span<>> BDC [(M)31 (urd)-5 (er C)30 (ase,)]TJ This is such a sad case because those kids did not deserve to go through something so traumatizing. 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. Deadly Women Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. Pandemonium ensued as staff charged out of the school in San Diego to help terrified and injured children, shouting at parents to drive on as they arrived to drop off more pupils. My dad and Mike were the only two to die that day, he said, The kids that they were trying to save all lived. Brenda Spencers income source is mostly from being a successful . 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. /T1_4 1 Tf Police later found half empty alcohol bottles throughout the house. 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. A month before I was arrested, my [high school] counselor took me to see a psychiatrist, she reported. /T1_4 1 Tf According to our Database, She has no children. Five students were killed and thirty were injured. [( pp. (85)Tj She confirmed that she had heard the kids in the school across the street. ( )Tj 8\2269. The fact that she shot up the school was because she didnt like Mondays and she wanted to cheer it up. EMC He showed me a neatly hand-written letter she sent him in 2015 in which she wrote that she appreciated what I did was horrible so I dont really complain about the amount of time Ive done. )Tj /T1_5 1 Tf /Span<>> BDC 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. )]TJ /T1_4 1 Tf The next time (2001), she began to advance the theory that her brutal act was preceded by her father's abuse of her, but these facts were also not confirmed. 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td Learn How rich is She in this year and how She spends money? ( )Tj (74)Tj proof:pdf Brenda Spencer explained her act by shooting at children just for the sake of her pleasure, and also for laughs. [(Langman, P)90.1 (. The place he loved the most. /Span<>> BDC /T1_3 1 Tf My condolences to the principal and the custodian of the Cleveland Elementary School. Survivors of the shooting who attended court recall a bespectacled Spencer staring at them blankly. ( )Tj /T1_3 1 Tf (88)Tj She injured eight children and a police officer, and killed the principal and a custodian. )]TJ EMC Location Spencer was the inspiration for the song "I Don't Like Mondays," written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers for their band the Boomtown Rats, which was released later that year. They later had a daughter together. Jonathan Fast, Unforgiven and Alone: Brenda Spencer and Secret Shame, in, College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences. When her father gifted her the .22 caliber rifle, she thought that he was finally telling her to do it: to take her life successfully, unlike her past suicide attempts, and leave the world forever.7. Brenda Spencer is however, America's first female school shooter. The cellmate looked so much like Spencer, even local police officers believed Brenda had been released early from prison. 0.355 Tw /Span<>> BDC /T1_4 1 Tf Pathology EMC 0.003 Tc 0.082 Tw 1.662 0 Td Mondays always carry with them a negative connotation and contain components such as depression, fatigue, and anguish. Sixteen-year-old Brenda Spencer fired from the window of her house children who had come to school, across the road from the ill-fated home. 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. )]TJ [(Y)60.1 (o)-4.9 (chelson, S. and S)23.1 (amenow)80.1 (, S. )]TJ Even if she maybe had her own problems with her father, she is just as guilty to if she only did it to make a better Monday. EMC For Christmas in 1978, her father, Wallace Spencer, gave her a semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle. And because she never had to be cross-examined in court, her facetious remark about hating Mondays remained her only explanation for the shooting. 35 years later, Brenda Ann Spencer, who killed two and wounded eight, faced her victims in a parole hearing. /Span<>> BDC She is not dating anyone. 0 Tw 2.118 0 Td She also killed custodian Mike Suchar (age 56) as he tried to pull a student to safety. 0.177 Tw /Span<>> BDC ( )Tj Spencer was not once searching for ways to go free. ( )Tj -2.118 -1.529 Td ( )Tj )]TJ )]TJ 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. He was an antisocial loner who lived in poverty in a house strewn with empty beer and whisky bottles. Despite what former District Attorney Richard Sachs said on the episode of Deadly Women, Spencer's rampage was not "the country's, if not the world's first school shooting case before 1979." Conviction )]TJ 9 year old Cam Miller was wearing a blue vest. /Span<>> BDC ( )Tj 0.259 Tw /Span<>> BDC EMC 0.04 Tw 2.118 0 Td /T1_4 1 Tf /T1_3 1 Tf EMC He had gone to his parents home to tell his mother, Valentina. But the link with the San Diego shooting was soon spotted by Spencer herself. On January 29, 1979, in San Diego, California, 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who lived just across the road from the Cleveland Elementary School, opened fire on the students and school personnel with a .22-caliber rifle.