[3], Brenda Ann Spencer (born April 3, 1962) is an incarcerated American murderer who in 1979 committed a school shooting at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in the San Diego Unified School District in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego, California. 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.. Her former defense attorney said the Patrick Henry High School student suffered from a broken home, an abusive father, drug use and hostility toward authorities and society in general. When the principal rushed out and tried to help the children, he was immediately shot and killed by Brenda. brenda spencer father, wallace. Kids in the comfortably middle-class neighborhood would later say Brenda was known to torture cats, and had dug a series of tunnels in her back yard; adults would describe her as a quiet loner. What on that day had been unimaginable -- that a school could become a killing field -- is grimly familiar. Its like the ripple in a pond that goes through generations and a community.. Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica! [9], In early 1978, staff at a facility for problem students, into which Spencer had been referred for truancy, informed her parents that she was suicidal. When challenged she claimed the words were actually Unforgiven and Alone. She is currently 59 years old and resides at the California Institution for Women in Chino. 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 mentioned in the article. The standard .22LR rifle feeds from a flush-mounted 10-round helical-feed magazine, though aftermarket magazines and drums carry fifty rounds or more. After her parents separated, she lived with her father, Wallace Spencer, in poverty. "It brings back memories," he acknowledges, "but as time goes on, you heal. And despite her efforts to downplay her own crime, Spencer herself has admitted that her actions may have indeed led to other similar attacks. When someone posts an ill advised accusation against you or your weekly audience, please allow us to respond in a timely manner. Though all eight of the children ultimately recovered, Wragg and Suchar were killed. [32], The Lifetime Movies series Killer Kids released an episode "Deadly Compulsion" depicting Spencer's crimes which first aired date in September 3, 2014. It took a few shots before students, parents, and school staff realized that someone on the opposite side of the road was using them as a target. . The parole board chairman said that as she had not previously told anyone about the allegations, he doubted whether they were true. He just said we'll deal with it as a family. According to police reports and her classmates descriptions, Brenda was an introvert, often behaving strangely. We typically left them in gun racks in the back windows of our pickup trucks or in car trunks in anticipation of after-school hunting trips. A tiny brass plaque by the flagpole commemorates the principal and custodian who died trying to rescue fallen children and herd the others to safety that day. Suchar, the custodian who died after being shot was survived by his wife and a son. But Gov. When queried concerning her motivations she said, I dont like Mondays. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro Contribute to This Page Edit page Testosterone is the most potent poison known to man. She spent 42 days in the hospital and underwent two operations that left a foot-long scar across her stomach. Kasinak and Officer Patty Bernathy drove the teen to the homicide unit for questioning. - 1972) (divorced) (3 children) Trivia (1) Father of Brenda Spencer. He said Suchar and the principal didnt get along all that well, but that day when Wragg was felled in the parking lot, Suchar didnt hesitate to run out and try to help. Wallace Spencer was previously married to Dot Spencer. ". Head Custodian Mike Suchar. She said that it was from her own home and added Yeah, who do you thinks doing the shooting? When asked why she did it, she gave an answer that completely shocked the public and was highly publicized:I just dont like Mondays. 104K views 3 years ago 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. Eleven hit their mark eight children and three adults. He was only sentenced to the maximum of 21 years (with the possibility of 5 years at a time being added in the future). To this day, 60-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer remains locked up in prison at the California Institution for Women in Corona. SWAT Officer Jim McGinley said he took up a sniper position on a neighbors roof, his rifle trained on the Spencer back door. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Not long after Brenda Spencer went to jail, her father married his daughter's teenage cellmate. Christy Buell was shot. He promised that a Burger King Whopper would be waiting for her. Why do you think you should deserve a second chance when the principal and the custodian had none? As 53-year-old Principal Burton Wragg walked out to open up the facility Brenda opened fire with her 10/22. The Cleveland Elementary School shooting was a school shooting that took place on January 29, 1979, at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California, United States. For Christmas 1978 her father, Wallace, had given her a .22 rifle as a present. The arrest of school shooter Brenda Spencer, shortly after her infamous I dont like Mondays quote. For Christmas in 1978, her father, Wallace Spencer, gave her a semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle. [5] A 28-year-old police officer, Robert Robb, had responded to a call for assistance during the incident, where he was wounded in the neck as he arrived. What he found instead were children screaming, crying and bleeding on the ground as a teenage girl who lived across the street raked the schoolyard with bullets from her .22-caliber rifle. One of those children was Miller, who believes Spencer targeted him that morning because he was wearing a down vest in her favorite color: blue. CAPTION: (Photo ran in an earlier edition) Police rush to the scene of a sniper attack on Grover Cleveland Elementary School in a San Diego suburb 20 years ago. It seems the woke western world cares more about the rights of criminals than the rights of victims and society. "Six months after I got my jacket back, I found a hole in the hood," she recalls, surmising that a third bullet passed through it without striking her. It has a very strong ripple effect; even if youre not hit by a bullet, that stays with you forever. As reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, she pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in 1980. But Officer Paul Olson, primary negotiator, talked to Spencer on and off by phone for hours, urging her to throw out her gun and surrender. Standing 52 tall and weighing 89 pounds, Brenda Spencer was once described as too small to be scary., true stories behind Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. During this time, Spencer gave her infamous interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune over the phone. The 2006 British documentary I Don't Like Mondays also revisits the case. Stahl said her mother, Penny Wragg, never got the right help dealing with the murder of her father at the school. She remembers how her dad used to walk her slowly through the hospital corridors, and how they would stand in a breezeway and watch the lights of passing cars on the freeway below. Like Cam Miller, she never sought professional help to cope with the trauma's aftermath. The rear sight folds flat when not needed. She remains imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Chino. Eventually, Brenda grew peckish. Nine counts of attempted murder were dismissed. The standard Ruger 10/22 features a blued finish and walnut stock, though there are plenty of factory options available. Buzz, I did however spend a couple of years working in a Federal maximum security Penitentiary (USP). (Disturbingly, Wallace Spencer later married one of his daughters 17-year-old cellmates who bore a striking resemblance to her.) 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Were we being completely honest the quickest way to restore peace and harmony to the species would be to just lock up all the guys. During the later interrogation, she was asked why she did it and responded: I just dont like Mondays.. [3] 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. When another neighborhood is on the evening news, and Buell's father sees the stunned faces of parents in Jonesboro or Paducah or Littleton, he finds himself hungry for any scrap of information about the families of these children who kill, hoping, as he still does with Brenda Spencer these 20 long years later, to put all the pieces together and finally make sense of it. She reportedly answered: "I don't like Mondays. Eight students ranging in age from 7 to 10. Instead, he purchased the weapon that his daughter would later use to target the school. 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. Later, Cam went with his parents to court. She resembled Brenda.. Why no capital punishment? Soon after the police arrived on the scene, they realized that the shots had come from Spencers home. Just a few months after the BB gun incident, Spencers probation officer had suggested that she spend some time in a mental hospital for depression. We will see next year, I believe, that even a super-majority in Congress cannot force a rogue administration to obey and enforce duly enacted laws (as at the border, the Hillary debacle, the Russian hoax, Hunter-Joe, habeus corpus for 1/6 trespassers and on and on and on. "I didn't talk about it. Since 1979, the United States and other nations have seen a dramatic rise in the frequency of mass shootings and the casualty list. "I have often had visions of it happening there, and think about what I'd be doing if it did happen," she allows. He didnt even call the boys parents. Her parents were separated, and she lived in squalor with her alcoholic father, Wallace Spencer. First introduced in 1964, the Ruger 10/22 is likely the most successful .22 rifle ever devised. Bettmann/Contributor/Getty ImagesBrenda Spencer had a reputation for being a problem child who struggled with numerous health issues. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Hi, Will. According to the San Diego Police Museum, she warned authorities that she was still armed and threatened to come out shooting if she was forced to leave her house. After her parents separated, she lived with her father, Wallace Spencer, in virtual poverty. [25] In the ensuing decades, it was leased to several charter and private schools. Official website of the comedian, television host, talking head, commentator, speaker, and word-haver. After killing the schools principal and custodian and wounding eight children and a first responder, Spencer barricaded herself in her home for more than six hours until she finally surrendered herself to the authorities. Brenda alleged that her father Wallace both beat and sexually abused her. In 20 minutes she had shot: Principal Burton Wragg. Posted by ; royal canin yorkie dog food reviews; parkland psychiatric hospital dallas, tx . Miraculously, none of the children were killed, though eight of them were injured. Nowadays things are a bit more opaque. At the time, she lived in a house across the street from the school. "He said to go away, and I respected that," Norm recounts. He said Spencer told him things like having shot a rabbit in the back of its head from 25 yards. Spencer was a predictably poor student with truancy issues, but she had a talent for photography. Spencer, who was charged in court as an adult, pleaded guilty in 1980 to two counts of murder. The house I graduated high school from looked over at San Quentin State Prison. 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. Privacy PolicyTerms of ServiceSign Up For Our NewslettersSite Map, Copyright 2023, The San Diego Union-Tribune |, KB homes were built on the former site of Cleveland Elementary School in San Carlos. The ripple in a pond that goes through generations and a community.. Buy Sell. Respond in a pond that goes through generations and a son 1978 her father Wallace both beat sexually. Patty Bernathy drove the teen to the homicide unit for questioning pleaded guilty to two counts of in... Previously told anyone about the allegations, he doubted whether they were true challenged claimed... Spencer remains locked up in prison at the school `` but as goes. 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