She grew up relatively poor and spent most of her early life with her father, Wallace Spencer, with whom she had a turbulent relationship. She was like, Listen to this. Shelia and Skylar were fighting, but Skylar didnt know Shelia had put her on three-way calling, and Rachel was listening in, he said. And although Brenda Spencer had only been 16 at the time of the shooting, she was charged as an adult due to the severity of her crimes. Almost a year after receiving the semi-automatic weapons of the 22nd caliber, namely . I'm not traumatized for life or anything. Her next opportunity for a parole hearing will be in 2025.[21][22][23][24]. When this part of the story was discovered, the thought that the girls had something to do with Skylars disappearance started to make more sense. First introduced in 1964, the Ruger 10/22 is likely the most successful .22 rifle ever devised. Despite his belief in the teenage killer, he was not hired to represent Brenda at her parole hearings. According to History, they were waiting for their principal to open up the schools gates. In lesser crimes, such as stealing property, the thief can restore what was stolen, in most cases. Her parents were separated, and she lived in squalor with her alcoholic father, Wallace Spencer. Once there, Spencer decided to withdraw her bid for parole. The basic chassis has been adapted to emulate a crank-powered, tripod-mounted Gatling gun, a miniaturized MG42 machinegun, and even an M1 Garand. Of course, she never could have guessed that they were hiding knives inside and that by going with them she sealed her fate. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. There are emotional scars, as well. She was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison, and is still serving her sentence at the California Institute for Women. When she left, she went for a police interview where the truth of what happened to Skylar was finally revealed. Shelia and Skylar were fighting a lot, he said, and he told a story of the sort of petty nastiness that can plague some teenage friendships. . Every 10/22 rifle is tapped for a scope mount that comes with the gun. On the morning of January 29, 1979, children began to line up outside Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California. In a crazy turn of events, more than two decades later, his son, Dan Barnes, found himself the victim of a school shooter as well when Jason Hoffman opened fire at Granite Hills High School. But this argument has never swayed the parole board. Brenda had barricaded herself inside the home, warning police that she was armed - and after the shooting, there was no denying what she was capable of doing. The Devil Conspiracy is a 2022 science fiction horror film written and produced by Ed Alan and directed by Nathan Frankowski. For Christmas in 1978 Brenda Spence's father gave her a Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle with a telescopic sight and 500 rounds of ammunition. As ours is doing quickly. The Spencers were divorced, with Brenda and her older brother living with their father. As 53-year-old Principal Burton Wragg walked out to open up the facility Brenda opened fire with her 10/22. Young children grew into adults and continued to remember the horrific day as though it was yesterday. A reporter reached Spencer by phone while she was still in the house after the shooting, and asked her why she committed the crime. The Brenda Spencer Murder Case, which was published in 2012, and is the single best source I am aware of regarding Spencer. A 7-year-old girl led him around a corner to a teacher. I felt like he wanted me to kill myself. Brendas attorney leveraged her fathers ill-treatment as an explanation for her senseless violence, yet their efforts were fruitless. She injured eight children and a police officer, and killed the principal and a custodian. She has thus far been before a parole board four times and has been denied each time. "I didn't talk about it. Brenda Ann Spencer (born on 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 neighbourhood of San Diego, California, U.S. At the time, Brenda lived in a house across the street from the school. Soon after the police arrived on the scene, they realized that the shots had come from Spencers home. 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. The bullet struck Cam in the back and exited his chest, missing internal organs but leaving scar tissue that still hurts two decades later if he stretches the wrong way or lifts weights. They met when they were just in their freshman year, and despite being a newcomer into a pair of old friends, she fit right in and the trio of BFFs spent all of their time together. Hi, LeRoy. While at the California Institution for Women in Chino, she worked repairing electronic equipment.[7][18]. Later, during tests while she was in custody, it was discovered Spencer had an injury to the temporal lobe of her brain. 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. She was sentenced to 25 years to life on the day after her 18 th birthday. The morning was unusually cold, they still remember. [27] In 2018, the school was demolished to construct a housing development, and the plaque was relocated to the former school's southern edge, at the corner of Lake Atlin Avenue and Lake Angela Drive. Wragg and custodian Michael Suchar were killed. Empty beer and whiskey bottles were scattered around the room, and approximately 200 rounds of unused ammunition were in the home. They had a child, and the little girl attended Buell's preschool. Major Dabbs eventually resigned his commission in favor of medical school where he delivered 60 babies and occasionally wrung human blood out of his socks. Today, Brenda Spencer has been inducted into the Golden Girls Club at the California Institution for Women. The preparations for the murder involved Shelia bringing kitchen knives and Rachel getting one of her dads shovels. She grew up relatively poor and spent most of her early life with her father, Wallace Spencer, with whom she had a turbulent relationship. For example, Charles Cam Miller wears a scar across his chest, compliments of Brendas bullets. What were you thinking? On the other hand, Shelia was so much fun. Instead, he purchased the weapon that his daughter would later use to target the school. However, if you took a closer look you could see that there was some conflict brewing amongst them, as you would expect from a group of high school girls. [18] Early reports indicated that Spencer had scratched the words "courage" and "pride" into her own skin; Spencer corrected this during her parole hearing as reading "unforgiven" and "alone". It happened when the girls arrived in the woods and came to the realization that they didnt bring their lighter with them, which prevented them from getting stoned. 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. "We just kind of went on with life," she says. The young woman eventually left him, but he lived in the same house across the street from the school until his death in 2016. I recall one kid bringing a 1911 pistol to show off to his pals. In fact, he only served to worsen them when he bought Brenda the rifle for Christmas. Prison should be reserved for those guilty of minor or first time felonies, where there is a chance of rehabilitation. If I hear a loud bang or a car backfire, it gets my heart beating, but that's about it.". Death would have been welcome. Facing Brenda, authorities asked the question that had been hanging on everyones lips - what caused her to commit such heinous actions? This is the true story of Brenda Spencer and her deadly attack. Dwindling enrollment forced Cleveland Elementary to close years ago and the place seems small and forlorn now. There was no confusion about where the shots had originated from. 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. One negotiator remembers promising her a Burger King Whopper before she finally came outside. She has thus far been before a parole board four times and has been denied each time. Spencer pled guilty to two counts of 1st-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon. They need to talk about their fears, he says. However, Brendas riot initiated a sharp increase in the frequency of mass shootings, as well as the number of fatalities and casualties. We feel a life sentence is only fair for someone guilty of all those things. While society continued to condemn Brendas actions, she hasbeen inducted into the Golden Girls club. I asked for a radio, and he bought me a gun, Brenda Ann Spencer later said. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) On the morning of January 29, 1979, teenager Brenda Spencer took a break from shooting people through her window to answer the phone. She says, I know there was a lot of turmoil in the family every time Brenda was up for parole. Police subsequently described the home as littered with beer and whiskey bottles. Her parents were dealing with a shock they never expected, but they had someone with them to comfort them and be a part of their search, and that was Skylars best friend Shelia Eddy. Brenda Spencer wanted a radio for Christmas in 1979. Please hurry.. My question to all of you is, If you are religious at all and believe it is a sin to kill a living person, how in the world can you believe that its OK to kill someone under the premise that it was the law that sanctioned it! Her post that said, They say you remember the past better than it was also raised eyebrows in light of everything that happened. As one might expect, unfettered chaos ensued. She also wandered the neighborhood killing birds with a BB gun. Spencer, who was charged in court as an adult, pleaded guilty in 1980 to two counts of murder. As an honors student going into her junior year atUniversity High School near Morgantown in West Virginia, she got good grades, even in classes such as science and math which she didnt especially enjoy. In all, the standoff lasted over six hours. brenda ann spencer father. I agree. Best explanation why the death penalty for deliberate murder is not only just but the society that disregards it deserves to fall. [5][7] Spencer later said, "I asked for a radio and got a rifle." He didnt even call the boys parents. Now 30, Christy is a sunny preschool teacher who is reluctant to talk about the shooting, because she considers it just "part of my life," and has moved on. Rachel is scared to death, she said. 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. Sure enough, it was no coincidence that Rachel went to summer camp the day after Skylar disappeared, as they planned the murder around her leaving. Suddenly all the kids were gone. CAPTION: Brenda Spencer said she opened fire at the school because "I hate Mondays.". I dont know how Californias female prisons are. 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". According to The Daily Beast, she would later claim that her father was abusive toward her and that her mother just wasnt there.. With access to the girls social media posts, the police learned a lot about them. The principal was enjoying a cup of coffee in the front office when he heard a popping noise and charged outside, assuming he would find little boys setting off firecrackers. In fact, in 2001, she told the parole board, With every school shooting, I feel Im partially responsible. He could see Wallace through the screen door, sitting in front of the TV. Blue made him a target. The story was they had dropped her off at the end of the road because she didnt want to wake us up sneaking back in.. One time sophomore year, me and Rachel were at practice for Pride and Prejudice, and Rachel had her phone up to her ear, and she was laughing. She was using a rifle that her father had . He took a month-long training course to learn how to handle a weapon himself with more confidence. If Skylar was the grounded one, Shelia was the one who kept things exciting. Not long after Brenda Spencer went to jail, her father married his daughter's teenage cellmate. Rachels friends had the same exact concern about Shelia, who they felt was turning their friend into a new person. Rachel, on the other hand, was quite quite different from Shelia. Blue was Brenda Spencer's favorite color, he later heard. Thanks, friends, love hanging out with you all too. One day before that she wrote, You doing s*** like that is why I can NEVER completely trust you. It definitely hints that something bad was brewing between her and her friends. 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. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Current one is: January 29. . Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Dad set the direction, and I took the path. 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.. Its like the ripple in a pond that goes through generations and a community. To this day, the school has continued to honor the victims of the shooting. 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. Richard Sachs, a San Diego County deputy district attorney explains that she was demonstrating emotional instability. 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. He and his wife drove the hour and a half through the desert to the California Institution for Women, arriving much too early. Brenda Spencer was born on April 3, 1962 in San Diego, California, USA. A few years later, in 1976, an adult male shooter killed seven people and wounded two after shooting at Cal State Fullerton. He is married to his high school sweetheart, has three awesome adult children, and teaches Sunday School. There may come a time when the shooting will be a blip in the memory of the neighborhood community in San Diego, yet that is a long time coming. Her toothbrush, her phone charger, and other goods she would have brought with her if she really wanted to run away were all at home. One quick note regarding comments. Aged 16 at the time of the shooting, she was 5'2" (157cm) and had bright red hair. I have an issue with a 16-year-old daughter of mine. Principal Wragg rushed into the line of fire to drag children to safety and was shot down as well. The smallest victims are grown now, their lives changed in ways both subtle and searing. She ultimately left the house peacefully in exchange for a meal from Burger King. On December 28th, 2012, things came to a breaking point for Rachel, and her mom Patricia called the police. He famously kept a shotgun and a garbage bag in the trunk of the drivers ed car in case he came across something that needed shooting. According to her father, he was able to deal with Brendas suicidal thoughts and depression in his own capacity. As if Skylars death was not twisted enough, the derangement of Shelia and Rachel makes it worse. Bettmann/Contributor/Getty ImagesBrenda Spencer had a reputation for being a problem child who struggled with numerous health issues. After learning about Brenda Ann Spencer, discover the true stories behind Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the infamous Columbine shooters. It stars Alice Orr-Ewing, Joe Doyle, Eveline Hall, Peter Mensah, Joe Anderson, Spencer Wilding, Brian Caspe and James Faulkner.. Filmed in the Czech Republic it was released at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on September 10, 2022, and in theaters on . When they went to get Skylar, they told her that they were just out driving for the night and were going to a town close by called Brave where they would go into the forest to smoke marijuana. Historical Guns, In 2016, he took his final breath at87 years old. 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. Brendas life flashed before her eyes, just as the lives of her victims flashed before theirs. She wrote, Too bad my friends are having lives without me. The threesome appeared to become lopsided, with Skylar feeling more like a third wheel than an essential member. One tweet from Skylar definitely suggested something curious was up as she wrote on May 31, 2012, Youre a two-faced bitch and obviously f***ing stupid if you thought I wouldnt find out.. I didnt know the story. While growing up Brenda demonstrated an inexplicable hatred of policemen. 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=1150206840, 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 embedded infobox templates with the title parameter, 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 16 April 2023, at 21:46. Unfortunately, Brendas father wasnt able to help his daughter with her struggles. Movies. "Dad didn't want me to see a psychologist. (Disturbingly, Wallace Spencer later married one of his daughters 17-year-old cellmates who bore a striking resemblance to her.) 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. Cam Miller was wearing the down vest he had just gotten from Santa Claus. 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. Mentally she plots an escape route, how she will get the children to safety. All Rights Reserved. In 2009, the board again refused her application for parole, and ruled it would be ten years before she would be considered again. Perhaps you should check out the first several verses in Romans, chapter 13. She even had a few violent instances on her track record, including firing a BB gun into the windows of the elementary school campus, shattering the windows. Will Dabbs A native of the Mississippi Delta, Will is a mechanical engineer who flew UH1H, OH58A/C, CH47D, and AH1S aircraft as an Army Aviator. 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.
