Brenda Ann Spencer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brenda Ann Spencer


Born	April 3, 1962 San Diego, California, USA
Charge(s)	murder (two counts), assault with a deadly weapon
Penalty	25 years to life imprisonment
Status	currently imprisoned at California Institution for Women
Occupation	high school student

Brenda Ann Spencer (born April 3, 1962 in San Diego, California, United States) wounded eight children and one police officer and killed Principal Burton Wragg, and head custodian Mike Suchar, in a shooting spree at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, on Monday, January 29, 1979.

The school was across the street from her house. She used the rifle she had recently been given for Christmas from her father. When the six-hour incident ended and the sixteen-year-old was asked why she had committed the crime, she shrugged and replied, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." She also said: "I had no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun," "It was just like shooting ducks in a pond," and "(The children) looked like a herd of cows standing around, it was really easy pickings."

She pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life, currently being served at The California Institution for Women in Corona. She has been eligible for parole four times and has been turned down each time, the last in 2005. Spencer will be eligible for parole again in 2009.

In 2005, she claimed that she was drunk and under the influence of PCP at the time of the shootings and also that her father, Walace Spencer, had sexually abused her as a child (a claim she did not make during the earlier years of her incarceration). She has also claimed that the state and her attorney conspired to hide her drug test results.

On 23 January 2006, the British broadcaster Channel 4 screened a documentary titled I Don't Like Mondays. It spoke to members of the Spencer family, including Brenda's father, who had never before spoken publicly about the events twenty-six years earlier. He denies being responsible for the shooting and says that he has absolutely no knowledge of the accusations his daughter made against him in 2005. To this day, he continues to visit her every Saturday afternoon, when possible.^{[citation needed]}

Spencer's crime, lack of remorse, and inability to provide a serious explanation for her actions when captured inspired the song "I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats, written by musician Bob Geldof.