why did brenda spencer become a school shooter

I was 10 years old when I was shot by Brenda Spencer.. Both girls had witnessed the death of the principal and the custodian. The look at Brenda Foster gave me was enough to scare any young child to death.. During this longer conversation, Steve stood up at his desk, realizing that he might actually be speaking with the sniper. Brenda Spencer, 57, has been inducted into the Golden Girls club at the California prison where she is serving a life sentence It's been 41 years since the then-16-year-old Brenda Spencer. This recorded performance features on Bon Jovi's live album One Wild Night Live 19852001, as well as on the bonus 2-CD edition of These Days. The uninjured looked around confused as to what was happening. 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 brother said that although his widowed sister-in-law lived until 1991, her life actually ended in January 1979. A person can be attending school and be gunned down.. I dont like Mondays, she told him. I remember seeing her in Juvenile Hall back in the 70s. We found her singing as she gardened in the backyard, the son recalled. It then cuts to a family living room with the daughter just coming back from school but here the chorus is mimed by the other three band members to lead singer Bob Geldof. She had skipped class that day and later claimed that she had washed her epilepsy medicine down with alcohol. Brenda had attempted suicide in the past. [7] Geldof had been contacted by Steve Jobs to play a gig for Apple, inspiring the opening line about a "silicon chip". "I Don't Like Mondays." Accessed 26 Oct. 2022. Barynes and Principal Wragg bravely jumped into the line of fire to help get the kids inside the school for cover. She said the psychiatrist had recommended she be hospitalized as a danger to herself and to others. Nobody likes Mondays.". Ambrogio Spinola, the captain of the Spanish troops, receives the keys of the city from Justinus van Nassau. One of the numbers he dialed was that of the Spencer residence. At a concert in London in 1995, almost ten years later to the day, Bon Jovi covered the song after being joined on stage by Geldof at Wembley Stadium. Brenda Spencer opened fire on the front of Grover Cleveland Elementary School on the morning of January 29, 1979. When 'I Hate Mondays' Means Murder : NPR They cite the considerable progress she has made in rehabilitating herself in prison. The first took place in 1979 when 16-year-old Brenda Spencer shot dead her principal and another member of the staff at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. Spencer who says she was gay from birth lived with her university technician father from the age of nine after her parents broke up. As the children lined up outside of the gates, Spencer took out the .22 semiautomatic rifle that shed received as a Christmas gift from her father. You didnt follow through with your plan.. She had asked her father for a radio. Direct link to Jayce Gilmore's post Why did the war start?, Posted 8 years ago. I think her premature death in 1991 was at least partly the result of this traumatic experience.. Afterwards the final chorus is presented this time mimed with the same children from the beginning. 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. It really influenced how people saw me and thought about the whole case. 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. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! It was just after 9 a.m., and the person identified herself as "Brenda.". Instead of preparing for high school, Brenda Spencer retrieved a Ruger 10/22 rifle from her bed, a Christmas present from her father. I Hate Mondays : The True Story of School Shooter Brenda Spencer Brenda would go to claim sexual abuse by her father. Because I wanted to die, she said. She was one of eight children wounded Jan. 29, 1979--almost exactly a decade ago--when teen-age sniper Brenda Spencer opened fire on schoolchildren in San Diego. When asked why she did the shooting, she responded: "I don't like Mondays. SA Weekend 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. You could tell she had issues even as a teen I noticed. She said that her intention that day was to commit suicide by cop. She, because of the language and cultural differences in the United States, always counted on him to manage their affairs. Eleven others were injured, including eight children, two adults, and a police officer. "I don't like Mondays," she said. "FACT CHECK: I Don't Like Mondays." Brenda Ann Spencer was the killer who started it all. Brenda Spencer is America's first female school shooter. The Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 1979, p. 23. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111917322/brenda-3/. (LogOut/ Based on contemporaneous accounts, Spencer likely did say those words, though the evidence indicates she said them before she was arrested, not after (contrary to what's implied in the Reddit post). I Don't Like Mondays: The True Story Behind America's First Modern School Shooting. But Wallace Spencer reportedly refused to admit her, claiming that he could handle his daughters mental health issues on his own. But we should not think that there are no ulterior motives for the presentation of this seemingly virtuous moment. April 18, 2001 12 AM PT. And with so many US school shootings since, Spencers crime has lost its once unique awfulness and, with it, the notoriety that helped keep her behind bars, they told me. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. In this hearing, Brenda stated that she hadnt intended to kill anyone. This livens up the day". Stunned by the tragic shooting, Bob Geldof, the lead singer of the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, wrote a song titled I Dont Like Mondays. Released just months after the attack, the tune topped the U.K. charts for four weeks, and it also received extensive airtime in the U.S. And according to The Advertiser, the song did not go unnoticed by Spencer. He concluded that no drugs or alcohol had been talking when she said she just didnt like Mondays. We were all very upset and shocked on the way to the hospital, because no one would tell us Michaels condition. There didnt seem much I or the rest of the family could do to help her., He went on to say that his father had gotten out alive from some rough times in the Pacific during World War II. Direct link to writersurprise's post When the defeated are on , Posted 8 years ago. She described arriving at school and hearing shots and seeing the principal and the custodian lying dead. A month before I was arrested, my [high school] counselor took me to see a psychiatrist, she reported. After talking to her a bit, Wiegand asked why she did it. I hope that somehow my dad and Mike know this.. This was the band's final major appearance. She recalled lying in the nurses office, bleeding as bullets crashed through the window. They still speak of hearing the gurgle in Mr. Wragg as he lay there dying If such evil can occur in such a benign and tranquil setting, then it can happen anywhere and probably will.. What if they got the idea from what I did?. She claimed that he had forced her to say that she had injured herself when she wrecked her bike. She has said she also does not recall telling a cop, It was a lot of fun seeing children shot.. He asked "Brenda" if she knew who did it and where the shots were coming from. This livens up the day.. [when asked why she committed her school shooting] i don't like Mondays. 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. Then, she aimed it out the window and began firing at the kids. He ended by saying on behalf of his deceased parents and the surviving members of the family that they opposed parole for Spencer. During the six-hour stand-off, a newspaper reporter rang up her neighbours to try to get eyewitness testimony. 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. It was released in 1979 as the lead single from their third album, The Fine Art of Surfacing. This livens up the day." Wiegand recalled the events to Hunt: Wiegand was surprised that someone answered and slightly more surprised when it was the voice of a young girl. This livens up the day.". On Monday, January 29, 1979, a journalist from The San Diego Union-Tribune got the quote of a lifetime from 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer. The response from Brenda . Brenda Spencer would open fire on Cleveland Elementary School, wounding nine children and killing two adults. She said she saw everything it was a 16 year old kid, and the shooting was coming from 6356 Lake Atkin Avenue. The principal and a custodian were killed; eight children and police officer Robert Robb were injured. The kings of Spain didn't want to let them go. Ultimately, she surrendered. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022. And then there was a statement by Steve Wragg, son of Principal Burton Wragg. Some lawyers involved in the case believe she will soon succeed in a parole application. Her toxicology report, however, would show no signs of drugs or alcohol in her system the day of the shooting. School custodian Michael Suchar ran out in an attempt to pull the still-alive Wragg to safety. San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Jan. 2016, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/readers-rep/sdut-osborne-editorial-business-union-tribune-2016jan22-story.html. Successive parole hearings have heard powerful testimony from those who say their lives were permanently scarred by Spencer. And although nine counts of attempted murder were ultimately dismissed from the case, Spencer was sentenced to concurrent terms of 25 years to life in prison for her crimes. Read their incredible back-story. The representative further reported that blood and urine samples taken after Spencers arrest tested clean. In 1979, Brenda Ann Spencer, a 16-year-old girl, fired a rifle from her house into the San Diego elementary school across the street, killing two adults and injuring eight children and a. A music video directed by David Mallet was used to promote the song. And because she never had to be cross-examined in court, her facetious remark about hating Mondays remained her only explanation for the shooting. "Yes, I saw the whole thing," she replied. Brenda Spencer - I Can't Believe It's NonFiction The commissioner read into the record several victim-impact statements. The day was just beginning at Grover Cleveland Elementary School when across the street, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer looked out her front window. What if they got the idea from what I did?. 20 years after the shooting, Spencer made claims that her father sexually abused her. A few weeks ago, she marked her 40th anniversary in prison after successive parole applications had been refused. 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. When he first met her, she was like a total zombie pale, ashen and with no recollection of what had occurred, and she stayed that way for some time. Between 1630 and 1635 the Spanish king Philip IV commissioned the construction of a royal palace just outside of Madrid. Brenda Ann Spencer - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I don't like Mondays. Principal Wragg was fatally shot in the heart. 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. She was asked if any adults had seen danger signs before the shooting. Wiegand did not know that Brenda had paused her shooting spree to answer the phone. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022. According to the book "I Don't Like Mondays," after 1979, Wiegand would never report on the shooting again. The other daughter had been saved from harm when a notebook with a pouch of pens stopped a bullet. Today, she is 56 and still behind bars at the California Institute for Women. According to acquaintances who knew Brenda Spencer, she also dabbled in drug use and petty theft as a teenager. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VTkDaR__Fg. I still cant.. In 1979, a five-feet-one-inch, eighty pound sixteen year old girl would become the first school shooter in United States history. But for the heroic efforts of a police officer who risked his life to drive a trash truck in front of her residence to block her field of fire, no doubt further children would have been shot.. They are the Adelaide brothers who became billion-view YouTube stars after an underwater car stunt gone wrong. 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. Nobody likes Mondays," Brenda said calmly. January 29, 1979: School shooting - The San Diego Union-Tribune I Cant Believe Its NonFiction and www.icantbelieveitsnonfiction.com, 2017-2019. Officer Robert Robb shot in the neck as he arrived but he lived. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022. Most of what I remember is what I've read from the police reports.". "That whole week ahead of time is pretty much a blur," she said. Female school shooter in Nashville is just the FIFTH in history - MSN He returned to the shooting. Brenda Spencer | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers Three shots rang out. Youre shooting these people as they become targets, and yet you told me that you didnt intend to hit anyone.. When Brendas parents divorced, she and her siblings stayed with their father. I dont like Mondays, she famously replied when asked her motive. Adelaides pioneering bid to end homelessness in the CBD, From YouTube to big screen: Adelaides car pranksters directorial debut. So, realising he was speaking to her, he asked what her motive was. According to Geldof, he wrote the song after reading a telex report[6] at Georgia State University's campus radio station, WRAS, on the shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who fired at children in a school playground at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California, on 29 January 1979, killing two adults and injuring eight children and one police officer. Roy Eccleston reports. I was thinking about it on the way back to the hotel and I just said 'silicon chip inside her head had switched to overload'. She Also and should have gone on the hot Chair!! About the redesign of the Hall of Realms. Her behaviour including telling a friend she wanted to kill someone, probably a police officer became increasingly disturbing. Wow, you really skimmed over the sexual abuse, the sharing of the mattress on the floor, etc. TIMES STAFF WRITER CHINO, Calif. She won worldwide notoriety in 1979 when, as a freckled 16-year-old proclaiming, "I don't like Mondays," Brenda Spencer sprayed a San Diego elementary. Brenda's parents divorced when she was young and lived with her father. Senda Berenson, original name Senda Valvrojenski, (born March 19, 1868, Butrimonys, Russian Empire [near present-day Vilnius, Lithuania]died February 16, 1954, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.), American educator and sportswoman who created and successfully promoted a form of women's basketball played in schools for nearly three-quarters of . I was doing a radio interview in Atlanta with Johnnie Fingers and there was a telex machine beside me. She killed. []. To this day, 60-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer remains locked up in prison at the California Institution for Women in Corona. I agree with your assessment of the purpose of that information. Nobody at the school knew where the shots were coming from. Brenda was tried as an adult and sentenced to 25 years to life in the California Institution for Women in Chino, California. Osborne said Wiegand tossed out an idea, "What if I call her? I was trying to commit suicide.. The family was poor. Blue was Spencer's favorite color so he would be her first victim. He was sitting next to another political writer, Steve Wiegand, as Spencer was holed up in her house. Because I knew that if I fired on the school the police would show up, and they would shoot me and kill me, she said. As reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, she pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in 1980. For the record: 6:15 p.m. Jan. 30, 2019 A previous version of this story failed to mention that custodian Michael Suchar, who was fatally shot, was survived by a son in addition to a wife, who was. Brenda Spencer - Facts, Bio, Favorites, Info, Family 2021 - Sticky Facts I walked into court and saw this monster glaring at me, he remembered. [12], In the UK the song won the Best Pop Song and Outstanding British Lyric categories at the Ivor Novello Awards.[13]. When asked why she did it, the post claimed, she replied: "I just don't like Mondays." You hit one of those fellows, too, the commissioner noted. The teens attorneys considered pursuing an insanity plea, but it never came to fruition. Bettmann/Contributor/Getty ImagesBrenda Spencer had a reputation for being a problem child who struggled with numerous health issues. The San Bernardino County Sun, March 28, 1979. He was killed by a shot to the chest. It was completely uncontrollable., There was also a statement by a parent, Francis Stile, whose two daughters attended the school. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. Why pick the school across the street? the commissioner asked. The Christmas before the shooting, Brenda asked her father for a radio. Even so, her former English teacher, David Barrett, recalled that she seemed pretty harmless and even won first prize in a photography contest run by the Humane Society. He was an anti-social loner who lived in poverty in a house strewn with empty beer and whisky bottles. She later also spoke with police negotiators, telling them those she had shot made easy targets, and that she was going to "come out shooting." She also said that she was shooting for the fun of it and that she had shot a pig and wanted to shoot some more. I wasnt specifically aiming at people, she said. He survived but remained terrorized. I was 9 years old when I was shot, he began. Wallace Spencer was an enthusiastic gun collector, and his daughter appeared to share his interest in this hobby early on. CBS 8 San Diego, 1993. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lMzatv6Weg. The line is repeated by a parole board member around the 8:20 mark in the video below, with a slight variation, to describe her motive for shooting: "I just started shooting for the fun of it. Brenda Spencer, who killed two people and wounded nine in the nation's first high-profile school shooting, was denied parole Tuesday . So perhaps I wrote the perfect senseless song to illustrate it. Wallace left the house about 7am and Brenda said she spent the next hour and a half getting drunk and doing drugs. The clip ends with the Boomtown Rats looking at a chroma key image of a house in a grassy plain. Suddenly, he was gone. Her assault would be the first of many school shootings across the nation, most notably Columbine and Sandy Hook. My question is, will there be another boring Monday for her? he asked. 1 in the UK singles chart and was backed by an eerie video in which the band performed the piano ballad to a classroom of young children. I can still remember the pool of blood on the nurses bed, and the terror didnt end there. Send it to The Daily Beasthere. Over the phone, when asked why she did this, she said: "I just don't like Mondays. The first number he called was the house across the street from the school, which is where Spencer had been shooting from. A bullet tore through the body of 9 year old Cam Miller missing his heart by just an inch. Good catch, Olivia. Though she damaged the windows, she didnt hurt anyone that time around. Her assault would be the first of many school. He recently pointed out that she cried frequently at her last parole eligibility hearing, in 2016, demonstrating what he called her continued emotional instability. 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. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022. 'I don't like Mondays': School shooter Brenda Spencer's bid for freedom At. She confirmed that she had started shooting at 8:30 a.m. that morning, and was using a 22-calibre rifle her father gave her for Christmas. Across the street, Brenda Ann Spencer was watching them from her house, which was filled with empty whiskey bottles and a single mattress that she shared with her father. Direct link to olivia.g.gruber's post Can you speak to the blan, Posted 7 years ago. Brenda was denied parole in 2009, but will be eligible again in 2019. Which is not a good thing to live with., CBS 8 San Diego/YouTubeIn 1993, Brenda Spencer told CBS 8 San Diego that she didnt remember saying, I dont like Mondays.. Why did you have to shoot the people at the school? the commissioner asked. Its chorus of I dont like Mondays, I want to shoot the whole day down, along with lines such as The silicon chip inside her head gets switched to overload refer specifically to the twisted mind of Brenda Spencer. "I Don't Like Mondays" is a song by Irish new wave group the Boomtown Rats about the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. The San Diego District Attorneys Office sent a representative to the hearing. Spencer was turned down for parole that year, as well. The daughter spoke of scattering her fathers ashes in the desert. And the journalists interviewing her said, 'Tell me why?' This livens up the day.. What were her mannerisms if you can recall? Spencer showed no remorse for her crime; her explanation for her actions was "I don't like Mondays. 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. 'I don't like Mondays' mass murderer Brenda Ann Spencer eligible for 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. Brenda Spencer is led away by San Diego police SWAT officers after shooting 11 people, killing two, at Cleveland Elementary School in the city's San Carlos neighborhood on Jan. 29, 1979.. For 20 minutes, Spencer continued to fire about 30 rounds into the crowd. SAN DIEGO The woman who opened fire on a San Diego elementary school as a teen in 1979, killing two people and injuring nine others, will not be eligible for parole for at least three years, a. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Fingers received a financial settlement and co-credit. She waited for the school to open, then at 8.30 am, began firing on the students who were . (Disturbingly, Wallace Spencer later married one of his daughters 17-year-old cellmates who bore a striking resemblance to her.) "40 Years Ago, Brenda Spencer Took Lives, Changed Lives in a Mass Shooting at a San Diego Elementary School." The blood hadnt been scrubbed from where he had fallen on the concrete. [8], In later years, Geldof stated that he regretted writing the song because he "made Brenda Spencer famous". According to History, they were waiting for their principal to open up the schools gates. It then peaked at Number 38 in the UK singles chart. 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.
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