A documentary about 16-year-old Brenda Spencer's school shooting of 1979. For Christmas in 1978, her father Wallace gave her a semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle. Her father went on to marry Spencer's 17-year-old Juvenile Hall cellmate but they later divorced. The shootings took place over 20 minutes with 36 shots, 11 hits. Its your comrade and you assist him, Guerrero said. He felt a sharp pain and blacked out for a moment, then a neighbor girl helped him toward the school building. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Later, during tests while she was in custody, it was discovered Spencer had an injury to the temporal lobe of her brain. At her 2016 parole eligibility hearing, she cried frequently demonstrating emotional instability, Sachs said. 1979 mass shooting in San Diego, California, U.S. For the shooting in Northern California, see, Cleveland Elementary School shooting (San Diego), Cleveland Elementary School shooting (Stockton), "School Sniper Suspect Bragged Of 'Something Big To Get On TV', "Look back in sorrow: in 1979, a teenage girl opened fire on a suburban San Diego elementary school; today, as the nation reels from a rash of similar tragedies, the survivors still struggle to understand why it happened", "Girl Sniper Kills 2, Wounds 9 at San Diego School", "Classmates Say Alleged Sniper Seemed Lonely, Friendless Girl", "40 years ago, Brenda Spencer took lives, changed lives in a mass shooting at a San Diego elementary school", "School Shooter Brenda Spencer Denied Parole", "School rifle attack nets 25 years to life", "No parole granted for 'I don't like Mondays' school shooter", "She didn't like Mondays, they don't want plaque moved", "Tragic past, uncertain present, bright future of Cleveland Elementary", "Victims of San Diego School Shooting Are Forced to Cope Again 10 Years Later", "Watch Deadly Compulsion Full Episode - Killer Kids | Lifetime", "Killer Kids - Season 3 Episode 19 Deadly Compulsion", "Deadly Women | Season 2 Episode 1 Thrill Kills", "40 Years Ago, Brenda Spencer Took Lives At Elementary School", "1993: Convicted school shooter Brenda Spencer speaks with San Diego's News 8 - PART 1", "1993: Convicted school shooter Brenda Spencer speaks with San Diego's News 8 - PART 2", "1993: Convicted school shooter Brenda Spencer speaks with San Diego's News 8 - PART 3", "1993: Convicted school shooter Brenda Spencer speaks with San Diego's News 8 - PART 4", Murder Historian - I Don't Like Mondays Blog, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Liberty Point International Middle School, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, "'No Way to Prevent This', Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens", List of school shootings in the United States by death toll, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego)&oldid=1142466095, Attacks on buildings and structures in the United States, Elementary school killings in the United States, Elementary school shootings in the United States, Articles with dead external links from August 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Articles with dead external links from November 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Students and faculty at Grover Cleveland Elementary School, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 15:06. A 16-year-old girl, Brenda Spencer, who lived in a house across the street from the school, was convicted of the shootings. In junior high, a neighbor went around telling people, `There's Cam, he's shot,' and I'd deny it." TIL In January 1979, 16 year old Brenda Ann Spencer was arrested after killing a principal and a custodian at an elementary school in California. The reason for her fate has less to do with her troubled life and more to do with her troubled genetics. After learning about Brenda Ann Spencer, discover the true stories behind Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the infamous Columbine shooters. He was in the process of moving to a new house when the Colorado school massacre happened Tuesday. And San Diegans are breathing it. After her parents separated, she lived in poverty with her father, Wallace Spencer. "I didn't talk about it. Born in San Diego, Spencer purportedly took an early liking to guns and also to stories that contained violence. SWAT Officer Marty Duitz aimed his rifle at the front door, from the safety of a school room. Instead, he purchased the weapon that his daughter would later use to target the school. What on that day had been unimaginable -- that a school could become a killing field -- is grimly familiar. When another school shooting is on the evening news, be it Jonesboro or Paducah or Pearl or Littleton, Cam Miller finds himself watching for the fearful faces of young survivors. On April 4, 1980, a day after her 18th birthday, she was sentenced to 25 years to life. Because there was no trial, few details about her family or her past ever came to public light. During the search of their house, police. He drove it into the parking lot to serve as a shield while officers and school staff removed the wounded. Two saplings planted in their memory took root in the bloodstained earth and have grown into trees now, sentries that stand tall and strong over an empty playground. Brenda Spencer (born April 3, 1962) lived in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego, California in a house across the street from Grover Cleveland Elementary School in the San Diego Unified School District. 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. He wishes he had. . As a person born on this date, Brenda Ann Spencer is listed in our database as the 47th most popular celebrity for the day (April 3) and the 101st most popular for the year (1962). she deserves life but i think killing those people was a bit extreme!! Born in San Diego on April 3, 1962, Spencer purportedly took an early liking to guns and to stories of violence. It was 26 years ago today, but those horrific events are . They had a child, and the little girl attended Buell's preschool. Stahl said her mother, Penny Wragg, never got the right help dealing with the murder of her father at the school. . She was tried as an adult, and pled guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Author: Alfred Weidinger CC BY 2.0, When the shooting was finished, Spencer shut herself in her house and stayed there for hours. Brenda Spencer began shooting at 8:30. I felt like he wanted me to kill myself., Bettmann/Contributor/Getty ImagesStanding 52 tall and weighing 89 pounds, Brenda Spencer was once described as too small to be scary.. Investigators said the .22-caliber rifle the girl lay down as she was arrested was a Christmas present from her father, Wallace Spencer, a supervisor of technical services at San Diego State University. Her older brother helped her over a fear of guns by taking her out shooting jackrabbits when she was 11. Though she damaged the windows, she didnt hurt anyone that time around. I can still hear it. Sweet, Buy Organic Seeds Risk Free From Organic Seeds TOP - Credit Card & Western Union Payment Options, Organic Seeds TOP is a seed vendor based in the Ukraine. She is said to have self-identified as "having been gay from birth." Father and daughter shared a single mattress on the floor for a bed and the place was littered with . SWAT Officer Jim McGinley said he took up a sniper position on a neighbors roof, his rifle trained on the Spencer back door. Family (1) Spouse Dot Spencer (? Then, read about the Dunblane Massacre, the deadliest school shooting in the U.K. Before The Columbine Massacre Or Parkland Shooting, There Was Brenda Ann 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. "[30] Spencer disputes ever contacting Geldof. Though the cops sent negotiators to speak with her, she refused to cooperate with them. 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. Charles "Cam" Miller sees the scar on his chest every . I didn't see blood.". Young Sheldon's Season 4 finale marked a turning point for the Big Bang Theory prequel, which has set the deck or in this case, racked the pool table for George Sr.'s downfall. Reportedly, Brenda later said that she asked for a radio instead but he insisted on a gun as a present. She reportedly answered: "I don't like Mondays. Brenda Spencer shot and killed two adults, wounded eight children and a San Diego police officer at Cleveland Elementary School in San Carlos on Jan. 29, 1979, 40 years ago. A version of this article originally appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine. "When I saw her, the look she gave me -- her whole appearance was very evil and scary. There were questions he meant to ask: How could you do something like that? "Oh, really?". By the time the country's first high-profile school shooting was over that morning, the principal and a custodian were dead, and eight children were wounded. Her cousin Valerie Stahl said she grew up not knowing much about Spencer until she hit college and Googled the incident. Monika Selvig was shot. Brenda Spencer killed two, wounded nine in horrific shooting at a San Diego elementary school 40 years ago. A week before she carried out the shooting that would make her infamous, she allegedly told her classmates that she was going to do something big to get on TV.. Police Officer Robert Robb. Wallace Spencer was previously married to Dot Spencer. "He said to go away, and I respected that," Norm recounts. The principals widow, Kathe Wragg, and daughter Penny made sure the parole board heard their opposition to releasing Spencer from prison. She was given an indefinite sentence and remains in prison. Photos of Brenda Ann Spencer, 16, who killed two adults and wounded eight children in a 1979 sniper attack on a San Diego elementary school. Sometimes Wallace Spencer would say hello when he came to pick his . Since the verdict, Brenda Spencer has been denied parole four times but will be eligible to have another Board of Parole Hearing next year. $100. Twenty-two years later, his son, Dan Barnes, also a teacher, found himself a target of Granite Hills High School shooter Jason Hoffman. She started her killing spree to 'liven up the day.' Spencer's murderous rampage might have claimed more victims had the police not obstructed her line of fire using a garbage truck. what medical procedure did rance allen die from, howard hill shooting glove,