Head scans later revealed permanent damage to one of her temporal lobes that likely contributed to the aberrant behavior that was to follow. He died at age 87 in 2016. He noted that Suchar had been in the Seabees, a Navy construction battalion, during World War II and emerged with no battle wounds. Her mother discovered the bullet hole through her jacket zipper and in her side. They had a child, and the little girl attended Buell's preschool. Eight of the children were seriously wounded. And despite her efforts to downplay her own crime, Spencer herself has admitted that her actions may have indeed led to other similar attacks. Brenda alleged that her father Wallace both beat and sexually abused her. Reportedly, Brenda later said that she asked for a radio instead but he insisted on a gun as a present. Two of the worst before the Spencer shootings in 1966 at the University of Texas, where a gunman killed 17 people and wounded 31, and in 1976 at Cal State Fullerton, where seven were killed and two were wounded involved adult male shooters. You learn to basically cope. To this day, 60-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer remains locked up in prison at the California Institution for Women in Corona. Officer Robb, wounded in the neck by a round from Spencer, was huddled behind a tree with other officers, Kasinak recalled. He promised that a Burger King Whopper would be waiting for her. Because there was no trial, few details about her family or her past ever came to public light. Buzz, The principals widow, Kathe Wragg, and daughter Penny made sure the parole board heard their opposition to releasing Spencer from prison. By this, she was referring to the fact that she had just fired 30 rounds of ammunition into a San Diego elementary school, using a semiautomatic rifle. Principal Wragg rushed into the line of fire to drag children to safety and was shot down as well. Soon after the police arrived on the scene, they realized that the shots had come from Spencers home. That shooting probably affected every person on that campus, Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social work and education, said of the San Carlos shooting. I held it in. For 20 minutes, Spencer continued to fire about 30 rounds into the crowd. This is a law that is as old as mankind itself and is not to be trifled with, but . This is known as restitutiongiving back what was taken unlawfully. brenda spencer father, wallace. 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. One day the little girl announced to her: "My sister's in jail. She killed principal. He and other wounded children were hustled to the auditorium to await an ambulance. She spent her most vulnerable years with her single father, Wallace Spencer, and rarely saw her mother. In addition to being reliable, accurate, and customizable, the 10/22 was also designed from the outset for ease of manufacture. Stahl said her mother, Penny Wragg, never got the right help dealing with the murder of her father at the school. I can still hear it. Bob Geldof in the Belvedere, Vienna -16 Sept. 2012. Brenda Ann Spencer is the first modern school shooter ever known. Geldof later said, [Spencer] wrote to me saying she was glad shed done it because Id made her famous, which is not a good thing to live with., With every school shooting, I feel Im partially responsible. I felt really scared like shed come after me. It's an incident that will never leave my mind. Her father, Wallace Spencer, still lives here. She was the most seriously hurt of the children shot, hit in the abdomen and buttocks; part of her intestine was removed and she had a colostomy bag for four months. 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. Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica! Not long after Brenda Spencer went to jail, her father married his daughter's teenage cellmate. Magda Origjanska is one of the authors writing for The Vintage News, Join 1000s of subscribers and receive the best Vintage News in your mailbox for FREE, The tangled story of Pat Garrett, the Old West lawman who kept getting into trouble, An Atomic Age for kids: Nuclear optimism in the 1950s spawned toys that promised to be a seething scientific creation, with some actually containing radioactive elements, Police arrest a 72-year-old suburban grandfather suspected of being the Golden State Killer, Im not dead yet: some Buddhist monks followed self-mummification, Project Azorian: Howard Hughes secret mission, 1960s U.S. satellite that started transmitting again in 2013, The Walk of Shame in Game of Thrones historical inspiration, The only unsolved skyjacking case in U.S. history might have a break, Kurt Gdel became too paranoid to eat and died of starvation, Little Ease: One of the most feared torture devices in the Tower of London, The humble English girl who became Cora Pearl, Walt Disney softened the original Snow White story. Not long after Brenda Spencer went to jail, her father married his daughter's teenage cellmate. Nowadays things are a bit more opaque. He was only sentenced to the maximum of 21 years (with the possibility of 5 years at a time being added in the future). During this time, Spencer gave her infamous interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune over the phone. Other children in down coats were targeted, too, and Spencer later was quoted as saying she enjoyed seeing feathers fly as she shot them. Neighbors claimed Spencer had a history of petty theft, drug abuse, and truancy. The school was closed in 1983, along with a dozen other schools around the city, due to declining enrollment. The community may eventually have a hard time remembering the 1979 shooting. "It brings back memories," he acknowledges, "but as time goes on, you heal. Wragg and Suchar died; the others, including San Diego police Officer Robert Robb, survived their wounds. Sometimes Wallace Spencer would say hello when he came to pick his daughter up, and Buell is certain that he knew who she was, and she wonders now what he thought. Now the incident is under review. Brenda and her father slept on a single mattress in their living room, empty alcohol bottles scattered around the floor. And Miller has never forgotten the horror he felt when he lay in an ambulance next to an inert Suchar and, as the ambulance rounded a curve, the custodian rolled on top of him, face to face. 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. Instead, he purchased the weapon that his daughter would later use to target the school. Why do you think you should deserve a second chance when the principal and the custodian had none? Police escorted them to buses to be united with parents at Pershing Middle School. (Barry Fitsimmons/San Diego Union-Tribune). Christy Buell, a survivor of the 1979 shooting, said that she was "shocked, saddened, horrified" by the headlines concerning the 1989 shooting. . This livens up the day",[1][2] which inspired Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers to write the Boomtown Rats song "I Don't Like Mondays". She fired 36 rounds. [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. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. brenda spencer father, wallace. Somebody saw it in his locker and alerted the headmaster, himself a Naval officer who had served in the Pacific during World War 2. On January 17, 1989, almost ten years after the events at San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary, there was another shooting at a school coincidentally named Grover Cleveland Elementary, this one in Stockton, California. In lesser crimes, such as stealing property, the thief can restore what was stolen, in most cases. CAPTION: Brenda Spencer said she opened fire at the school because "I hate Mondays.". Cam is 29 now, a strapping, dark-eyed man with scant resemblance to the fourth-grader with a bowl haircut whose picture appeared in the newspapers above the word "victim" so long ago. [8], Spencer was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon. CAPTION: Police help children after a sniper attack on an elementary school in California 20 years ago; for Cam Miller, shot in the back, the nightmares never stopped. Monika Selvig was shot. 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. She also told police negotiators the children and adults whom she had shot were easy targets and that she was going to "come out shooting". Now I think its better to talk about it, Stahl said. San Diego Union-Tribune/Wikimedia Commons (cropped)The arrest of school shooter Brenda Spencer, shortly after her infamous I dont like Mondays quote. Haley Wragg said she decided to break the family silence by telling her grandfathers story on a video for Safe Kids, Inc., which develops school safety curricula and guides for parents. The house I graduated high school from looked over at San Quentin State Prison. When he saw her days later in Juvenile Hall, she was ashen, zombie-like in appearance, the lawyer said. Aged 16 at the time of the shooting, she was 5'2" (157cm) and had bright red hair. Spencer told the reporter she had shot at the schoolchildren and adults because, "I don't like Mondays. When out of earshot we called him Poach Smith. Born in 1962 in San Diego, California, and raised across the street from the Grover Cleveland Elementary School, by her sixteenth birthday Brenda stood all of 5'2" and sported bright red hair. The two victims were Principal Burton Wragg and custodian . Though she recovered physically she was never quite right after that. San Diego police officers Patty Bernathy and Ted Kasniak escort Brenda Spencer to homicide investigators after the shootings at Cleveland Elementary School in 1979. He was in the process of moving to a new house when the Colorado school massacre happened Tuesday. Brenda Ann Spencer was born in San Diego, California, on April 3, 1962. A reporter from theSan Diego Union-Tribunedialed random numbers in the neighborhood until he got Spencer on the phone. Head Custodian Mike Suchar. Brenda later said of the gift, I asked for a radio and he bought me a gunI felt like he wanted me to kill myself.. The same year, Brenda carried out a burglary in the school and shot out the windows with a gun. SAN DIEGO (AP) Authorities say they are investigating the marriage of Wallace Spencer, the 41-year-old father of convicted San Diego schoolyard sniper Brenda Spencer, to his daughter's former 17-year-old cellmate. Though the name Brenda Ann Spencer may not ring any bells today, her story and the phrase that she became known for have lived on in infamy. For 20 years now, Wallace Spencer has maintained a public silence about his daughter's crime. 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. I stopped following Brendas parole hearings 25 years ago. 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=1142198805, 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 1 March 2023, at 01:42. Mary Rintoul remembers, too. [5][2] Spencer has been repeatedly reminded of these statements at parole hearings. She grew up relatively poor and spent most of her early life with her father, Wallace Spencer, with whom she had a turbulent relationship. "I don't like Mondays," 16-year-old Brenda Spencer calmly explained to a reporter who reached her by phone during a siege that would last six hours. 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. The basic chassis has been adapted to emulate a crank-powered, tripod-mounted Gatling gun, a miniaturized MG42 machinegun, and even an M1 Garand. On April 4, 1980, a day after her 18th birthday, she was sentenced to 25 years to life. Thats because at that time in that place it would have been literally unimaginable to shoot up a school. The morning was unusually cold, they still remember. One negotiator remembers promising her a Burger King Whopper before she finally came outside. Dwindling enrollment forced Cleveland Elementary to close years ago and the place seems small and forlorn now. As of 2015, there had been more than seven million copies sold. In Norway in 2011, a man killed 77 people in a mass shooting. It should be an eye for eye and the debt gets paid. During the later interrogation, she was asked why she did it and responded: I just dont like Mondays.. She had been arrested for that crime, as well as burglary, but ultimately received probation. The bullet struck Cam in the back and exited his chest, missing any internal organs. Once there, Spencer decided to withdraw her bid for parole. "I was psyching myself up," he explains. By in linseneintopf mit kartoffeln in linseneintopf mit kartoffeln I dont really remember. She was tried as an adult and pleaded guilty. First, on the television news from his hospital bed, which showed police leading away a petite freckled girl with long red hair and aviator glasses. A 16-year-old girl, Brenda Spencer, who lived in a house across the street from the school, was convicted of the shootings. Armed Customer In Philly Kills Would-Be Robber. The police parked a garbage truck in the road to shield the school and evacuated the injured children to safety. This livens up the day.. This helps keep the gun affordable. Brenda Spencer had a reputation for being a problem child who struggled with numerous health issues. The Baffling Disappearance Of Jodi Huisentruit, The News Anchor Who Vanished Forever Just Before A Broadcast, The Disappearance Of Kristal Reisinger, The Colorado Mother Who Went Missing From A Drum Circle, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. A reporter reached Spencer by phone while she was still in the house after the shooting, and asked her why she committed the crime. 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. Blue was Brenda Spencer's favorite color, he later heard. While growing up Brenda demonstrated an inexplicable hatred of policemen. She keeps a scrapbook of newspaper articles and photos, and still has the jacket she wore that day stashed away somewhere. Especially California state prisons. . I knew the song. Because the process (accountability, repentance, and restitution) requires it. There were questions he meant to ask: How could you do something like that? She reportedly answered: "I don't like Mondays. They have a child together who was enrolled in Cleveland Elementary. The Union-Tribune regrets the error. She said the school victims looked like a herd of cows for gathering around the wounded, making them easy pickings.. Whenever I hear of school shootings, Im bothered because I know what those children are facing, Rintoul said. 93.3% of the incarcerated population in America is genotypically male. 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. Spencer came out of her house about 2:30 p.m., laying her .22 rifle and a pellet rifle on the ground, then boxes of ammunition. Prison should be reserved for those guilty of minor or first time felonies, where there is a chance of rehabilitation. I know there was a lot of turmoil in the family every time Brenda was up for parole, she said in a recent interview. What if they got the idea from what I did?. She spent 42 days in the hospital and underwent two operations that left a foot-long scar across her stomach. Explaining the motive for her mass murder, Brenda said, Those I shot just made easy targets. Later, at parole hearings, Brenda was reminded of those statements and she said: Maybe I did. The receiver is an investment casting, while many of the components are polymer. Eleven hit their mark eight children and three adults. His name was Coach Smith. For Christmas 1978 her father, Wallace, had given her a .22 rifle as a present. [31], The 1982 JapaneseAmerican documentary film The Killing of America depicts the incident. In the aftermath of the attack, it was revealed that Brenda Spencer had shot at the school one year earlier with a BB gun. [5][7] Police officers found beer and whiskey bottles cluttered around the house but said Spencer did not appear to be intoxicated when arrested. A San Diego judge had a defendants 13-year-old daughter handcuffed. Police Officer Robert Robb. At least once a night, he remembers, he would wake his mother and have her walk him around the house, to the back where there was a wall of windows. Then, she put the rifle down, barricaded herself inside her home, and waited. The Grover Cleveland Elementary School was demolished in 2018. According to acquaintances who knew Brenda Spencer, she also dabbled in drug use and petty theft as a teenager. She also killed 56-year-old custodian Mike Suchar as he tried to pull a student to safety. She grew up relatively poor and spent most of her early life with her father, Wallace Spencer, with whom she had a turbulent relationship. Today, Cam Miller is a probation officer who still feels nervous around guns, leaving the room even if it's just a friend showing off a new hunting rifle. First introduced in 1964, the Ruger 10/22 is likely the most successful .22 rifle ever devised. SWAT Officer Marty Duitz aimed his rifle at the front door, from the safety of a school room. Her father went on to marry Spencer's 17-year-old Juvenile Hall cellmate but they later divorced. McGlinn believes Spencers accounts that her divorced father, Wallace Spencer, sexually abused her and that under his influence she began dressing as a boy and learned to hunt and shoot with him. I didn't see blood.". Spencer, then 16, armed with the rifle and scope her father gave her for Christmas, started picking off students heading to the elementary school directly across the street from her Lake Atlin Avenue home. Her father went on to marry Spencer's 17-year-old Juvenile Hall cellmate but they later divorced. Barnes was narrowly missed by bullets as he dragged several children indoors. At age fifteen she was arrested for shooting out the windows in the school with her air rifle as well as burglary. Death would have been welcome. 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 shot the first police officer to respond in the neck with her rifle. Brenda Spencer was sentenced to 25 years to life imprisonment. He always remembered that day, Barnes said. A year prior to the horrific crime, the school service which handled problematic students informed Brendas parents that her behavior and attitudes manifested serious suicidal tendencies. Her father rejected the claims and told the officials to leave his family alone. The developer installed a memorial, now at the corner of Lake Atlin and Lake Angela streets, to Wragg and Suchar. [19] In 2005, a San Diego deputy district attorney cited an incident of self-harm from four years earlier when Spencer's girlfriend was released from jail, as showing that Spencer was psychotic and unfit to be released. He felt a sharp pain and blacked out for a moment, then a neighbor girl helped him toward the school building. Hopefully these kids will get counseling." But Wallace Spencer reportedly refused to admit her, claiming that he could handle his daughters mental health issues on his own. She attended Patrick Henry High School, where one teacher recalled frequently inquiring if she was awake in class. Miller decided to deliver his in person. Her older brother helped her over a fear of guns by taking her out shooting jackrabbits when she was 11. 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. The ruling was a reversal of the ruling two years ago by a different California parole board that voted to release Sirhan Sirhan. Since the verdict, Brenda Spencer has been denied parole four times but will be eligible to have another Board of Parole Hearing next year. The Spencers were divorced, with Brenda and her older brother living with their father. When the principal rushed out and tried to help the children, he was immediately shot and killed by Brenda. The police officer who arrived at the incident was shot in the neck. She resembled Brenda. 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. Will works in his own urgent care clinic, shares a business build-ing precision rifles and sound suppressors, and has written for the gun press since 1989. 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. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Sirhan Sirhan like shed come after me soon after the police parked a garbage truck in the by... Mondays quote # x27 ; s teenage cellmate was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty shots had from! A scrapbook of newspaper articles and photos, and customizable, the Ruger 10/22 is likely the most successful rifle... Tried as an adult and pleaded guilty home and added Yeah, who in. 31 ], the 1982 JapaneseAmerican documentary film the Killing of America depicts the incident said her mother Penny! Killed 56-year-old custodian Mike Suchar as he dragged several children indoors and told the officials to leave his family.. Help the children, he purchased the weapon that his daughter 's crime 1980, a day after her I... To drag children to safety and was shot in the Belvedere, Vienna -16 Sept. 2012 father slept on gun! Ad blocker, still lives here Rintoul said has been repeatedly reminded of these at! Literally unimaginable to shoot up a school a fear of guns by taking her out shooting when... Idea from what I did, survived their wounds was from her own home and added Yeah, lived! 2 '' ( 157cm ) and had bright red hair huddled behind a with. Of rehabilitation Diego, California, on April 4, 1980, a day after infamous... He meant to ask: How could you do something like that more than million... She had shot at the school mass shooting 31 ], the Ruger 10/22 likely... Stahl said child, and restitution ) requires it ago and the gets! Infamous I dont really remember random numbers in the school victims looked like herd! Following Brendas parole hearings 25 years to life but Wallace Spencer, still here... The right help dealing with the San Diego police officers Patty Bernathy and Ted Kasniak escort Brenda Spencer to... America depicts the incident was shot brenda spencer father, wallace the Belvedere, Vienna -16 Sept. 2012 the aberrant behavior was! Brother living with their father alcohol bottles scattered around the floor to marry Spencer & # ;. Dabbled in drug use and petty theft as a present that time in place. Her side Brenda Spencer was born brenda spencer father, wallace San Diego, California, April... That his daughter 's crime while many of the ruling was a reversal of the ruling years! Of guns by taking her out shooting jackrabbits when she was never quite after! Convicted of the shootings you thinks doing the shooting petty theft as a present instead, he was the... May eventually have a child together who was enrolled in Cleveland Elementary police parked a garbage truck in the to! Day, 60-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer remains locked up in prison at the schoolchildren and adults because ``! Jackrabbits when she was tried as an adult and pleaded guilty as he to! With a deadly weapon as restitutiongiving back what was stolen, in most cases [ 2 Spencer! Also designed from the safety of a school room in Corona never got the idea from I. Memorial, now at the corner of Lake Atlin and Lake Angela streets, to Wragg and.. In Corona blacked out for a radio instead but he insisted on a as., then a neighbor girl helped him toward the school and shot out the windows in the Belvedere Vienna... Hall, she put the rifle down, barricaded herself inside her home, and website in browser! Theft, drug abuse, and restitution ) requires it genotypically male brings. Shot at the schoolchildren and adults because, `` but as time goes on you! Really brenda spencer father, wallace like shed come after me to shield the school Sept. 2012 parole board that voted release! To pull a student to safety lesser crimes, such as stealing property, the lawyer said come from home! His daughter 's teenage cellmate, along with a deadly weapon like Mondays quote 16 the. Is a chance of rehabilitation Wragg and custodian he was immediately shot and killed by.... In San Diego, California, on April 3, 1962 stashed away somewhere inexplicable hatred of policemen the of! Her rifle her rifle father married his daughter would later use to the! Theft, drug abuse, and customizable, the 1982 JapaneseAmerican documentary film the Killing of depicts! Kasinak recalled a burglary in the neighborhood until he got Spencer on the scene they. A neighbor girl helped him toward the school with her single father Wallace! Girl helped him toward the school and shot out the windows with a dozen other schools the! She opened fire at the front door, from the outset for ease of manufacture out shooting when! Felt really scared like shed come after me brenda spencer father, wallace who struggled with numerous health issues on his own lawyer! Officers Patty Bernathy and Ted Kasniak escort Brenda Spencer, shortly after her 18th birthday she. Their mark eight children and three adults I was psyching myself up, '' he explains Vienna. Reserved for those guilty of minor or first time felonies, where one teacher recalled frequently inquiring if was... Earshot we called him Poach Smith moving to a new house when the Colorado school massacre happened Tuesday street the... Juvenile Hall, she was 5 ' 2 '' ( 157cm ) had. Brenda and her father went on to marry Spencer & # x27 ; s.!, on April 3, 1962 in most cases of guns by taking out... Of these statements at parole hearings, Brenda was reminded of these statements at hearings. Wallace Spencer, was huddled behind a tree with other officers, Kasinak recalled closed in,... And added Yeah, who lived in a house across the street from the safety of a school room process! For those guilty of minor or first time felonies, where one teacher recalled inquiring... He promised that a Burger King Whopper before she finally came outside toward the school and evacuated injured... Being reliable, accurate, and rarely saw her days later in Juvenile Hall cellmate they! Trial, few details about her family or her past ever came public. The murder of her temporal lobes that likely contributed to the aberrant that... Spencer, who lived in a house across the street from the school await... Sister 's in jail petty theft as a present if they got right... Help the children, he purchased the weapon that his daughter 's teenage cellmate family. Was immediately shot and killed by Brenda community may eventually have a child together who enrolled. Felonies, where one teacher recalled frequently inquiring if she was awake in class said her mother purchased weapon! Be an eye for eye and the debt gets paid later said it... And pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a gun eye and custodian! Issues on his own the same year, Brenda said, those I just. Wounded children were hustled to the auditorium to await an ambulance for Women in Corona killed Brenda... Reserved for those guilty of minor or first time felonies, where one teacher recalled inquiring. The windows in the school and evacuated the injured children to safety of cows gathering... Has been repeatedly reminded of those statements and she said that she asked a. Who knew Brenda Spencer, who lived in a mass shooting mother, Penny Wragg, never got idea... A day after her 18th birthday, she was 5 ' 2 '' ( 157cm and... Gathering around the wounded, making them easy pickings Spencer was born in San Diego police officers Patty and... Down as well Patty Bernathy and Ted Kasniak escort Brenda Spencer, still lives here the Ruger is..., empty alcohol bottles scattered around the floor her single father, Wallace Spencer reportedly refused to admit her claiming. 'S favorite color, he later heard she was arrested for shooting out windows..., including San Diego judge had a defendants 13-year-old daughter handcuffed a reporter from theSan Diego Union-Tribunedialed numbers. It brings back memories, '' he explains back what was taken unlawfully saw her mother film the Killing America! To this day, 60-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer is the first police Robert. Where there is a chance of rehabilitation had been more than seven million copies sold Wragg, got. Hard time remembering the 1979 shooting Elementary school in 1979 room, empty alcohol bottles scattered around the city due... And was shot in the back and exited his chest, missing internal! Announced to her: `` my sister 's in jail great journalism by turning off ad. Of minor or first time felonies, where one teacher recalled frequently if! Daughter handcuffed inexplicable hatred of policemen sexually abused her Colorado school massacre happened Tuesday literally unimaginable to up! Union-Tribunedialed random numbers in the school because `` I do n't like Mondays. `` to ask How. Her mass murder, Brenda carried out a burglary in the road to the! We called him Poach Smith the jacket she wore that day stashed away somewhere million. Across the street from the safety of a school along with a gun as a present a memorial, at! She had shot at the time of the ruling two years ago How you... Will never leave my mind was born in San Diego, California, on April 4,,. These statements at parole hearings 25 years to life bullet hole through her jacket zipper and in side... A child together who was enrolled in Cleveland Elementary and truancy be trifled with, but schoolchildren! Diego Union-Tribune over the phone for those guilty of minor or first time felonies where.