Updated: 8:51 PM PDT August 18, 2022. After learning about Brenda Ann Spencer, discover the true stories behind Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the infamous Columbine shooters. But this marked a terrible development in the countrys violent history, triggering an era of school massacres in which children were ready to blast away at fellow pupils. Brenda's parents divorced when she was young and lived with her father. The Dutch, on the left, appear disorganized, youthful, and few in number. Well, you could have shot out one window of the school and the police would have come., You didnt have any anger at the children?, The commissioner asked if she recalled saying she had fired on the schoolyard because I dont like Mondays., I might have said that, she replied. This livens up the day.". Now the RackaRacka duo's debut feature film is about to hit the big screen at a gala event. Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dont-like-mondays/. She was one of eight children wounded Jan. 29, 1979--almost exactly a decade ago--when teen-age sniper Brenda Spencer opened fire on schoolchildren in San Diego. He was killed by a shot to the chest. So, realising he was speaking to her, he asked what her motive was. Suchar had served in Vietnam. The uninjured looked around confused as to what was happening. Irish group The Boomtown Rats recorded a song about the shooting I Dont Like Mondays, which was a huge hit around the world. However, we should not let Velzquezs. About the redesign of the Hall of Realms. The shooting was already on the news before Brenda stopped shooting. Left: Youthful Dutch soldiers (detail); right: Spanish soldiers (detail), Diego Velzquez, The Surrender of Breda, 163435, oil on canvas, 307 cm 367 cm (Museo del Prado, Madrid). This livens up the day.". Nobody likes Mondays," Brenda said calmly. Women Who Kill: America's Most Shocking Female Mass Shooters - Yahoo News The San Diego District Attorneys Office sent a representative to the hearing. The woman eventually left. Principal Wragg was fatally shot in the heart. Initially, reputable news outlets reported. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. According to the book "I Don't Like Mondays: The True Story Behind America's First Modern School Shooting" by N. Leigh Hunt, a crime historian, the reporter Spencer spoke to was Steve Wiegand of the San Diego Evening Tribune (which would later become the San Diego Union-Tribune), who had been calling houses around the area to see if he could track down witnesses to the event. Nobody likes Mondays.". Katie Serena is a New York City-based writer and a staff writer at All That's Interesting. log in. The 9 year old was shot in the wrist. "I Don't Like Mondays" is a song by Irish new wave group the Boomtown Rats about the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. She said that her intention that day was to commit suicide by cop. Monday, January 29, 1979 In 1979, Brenda Spencer, 16, opened fire on a San Carlos elementary school playground from her home across the street. "I DON'T LIKE MONDAYS: The True Story Behind America's First Modern School Shooting." I asked for a radio, and he bought me a gun, Brenda Ann Spencer later said. But whenever she did attend class, she raised eyebrows. The 1979 Boomtown Rats song "I Don't Like Mondays" was inspired by a deadly shooting at a school. Wow, you really skimmed over the sexual abuse, the sharing of the mattress on the floor, etc. "Isn't that your address?" 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.. He was then a part of the Allied occupying forces in northern Germany. Asked why she killed,. To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser. 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. The morning of the shooting, Brenda told her father that she was too sick to go to school. (LogOut/ Source: AAP Spencer's shooting became particularly notorious for. Or after80+ years of war is it customary to send in the young men, like military today? [8] Spencer's family tried to prevent the single from being released in the United States, but were unsuccessful. She claimed she was shooting wildly in an attempt to draw the police to her home. 1993: Convicted school shooter Brenda Spencer speaks with San - YouTube He suggested that the testing of the time may have simply failed to detect the intoxicants. 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. At her parole hearing in 2001, she first mentioned her abuse at the hands of her father. Ultimately, she surrendered. The painting presents a humane encounter in the midst of the chaos and cruelty of war. Police proceeded to move a garbage truck in front of Spencer's line of fire. During a 2009 parole hearing, her most recent, she insisted that she had not intended to shoot anybody. A 16-year-old girl, Brenda Ann Spencer (born April 3, 1962), who lived in a house across the street from the school, was convicted of the shootings. I dont know why he bought me a gun, she said. A person can be attending school and be gunned down.. Then, she put the rifle down, barricaded herself inside her home, and waited. That had been just before Christmas. It was completely uncontrollable., There was also a statement by a parent, Francis Stile, whose two daughters attended the school. The media and public began looking for answers as to why someone would commit such a horrid act. 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. But 20 years before Columbine, on January 29, 1979 at 8:30am, Brenda Spencer opened fire on the elementary school across the street from her house injuring eight children and a police officer. Roy Eccleston reports. I didnt intend to imply that it didnt happen or didnt matter. San Diego Union-Tribune/Wikimedia Commons (cropped)The arrest of school shooter Brenda Spencer, shortly after her infamous I dont like Mondays quote. In early modern Europe, paintings of military victories usually followed a preconceived structure:the victorious commander appeared seated. "Yes, I saw the whole thing," she replied. During this hearing, Brenda also said that she felt responsible for every school shooting that had happened since that day in 1979. FOX 5 San Diego, 18 Aug. 2022, https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/parole-hearing-scheduled-for-i-dont-like-mondays-school-shooter/. In all, the standoff lasted over six hours. Brenda Spencer | Deadly Women Wiki | Fandom It then transitions to a soft piano fill with Geldof in front of a white background wearing sunglasses singing the final verse of the single version. She had been arrested for that crime, as well as burglary, but ultimately received probation. My question is, will there be another boring Monday for her? he asked. Some of them were seriously injured, but all survived. (LogOut/ At a concert in London in 1995, almost ten years later to the day, Bon Jovi covered the song after being joined on stage by Geldof at Wembley Stadium. 'I don't like Mondays' killer is inducted into the 'Golden Girls' club It really influenced how people saw me and thought about the whole case. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Brenda Spencer is however, America's first female school shooter. Brenda aimed the rifle at the schoolyard from her bedroom. False About this rating Context There were conflicting reports regarding the gender identity of the assailant in the shooting at The Covenant School. SAN DIEGO Parole hearings were held Thursday for two high-profile killers from San Diego: School shooter Brenda Spencer and Marine wife Laura Troiani . She described drinking the entire week before and missing school. The commissioner read into the record several victim-impact statements. He showed me a neatly handwritten letter she sent him in 2015 in which she wrote that she appreciated what I did was horrible so I dont really complain about the amount of time Ive done. Three shots rang out. Both girls had witnessed the death of the principal and the custodian. We also might, mistakingly, think that was the first one. Mike to the children, ran to Mr. Wraggs aid, and the inmate shot him in the chest and killed him. When we arrived, we found him not in the hospital room, but down in the basement, dead. She loaded the rifle she had been given as a . The song never mentions her name and Geldof admitted that most fans thought it was about how having a hangover made Mondays unbearable. Wiegand recalled the events to Hunt: Wiegand was surprised that someone answered and slightly more surprised when it was the voice of a young girl. The board denied her and she will not be eligible for another hearing until 2019. Eight students and a police officer were wounded. A lawyer representing Spencer spoke next. He returned to the shooting. A year before the shooting, school officials told her parents they believed she was a suicide risk but her father ordered them to leave his family alone. [The father] then went on and had a sexual relationship with her and married her, the lawyer alleged. Over the phone, when asked why she did this, she said: "I just don't like Mondays. Read their incredible back-story. Austin American-Statesman, 5 Apr. The line is repeated by a parole board member around the 8:20 mark in the video below, with a slight variation, to describe her motive for shooting: "I just started shooting for the fun of it. I was trying to commit suicide.. "Behind The Vinyl: Bob Geldof "I Don't Like Mondays."" When the defeated are on their knees in humility, do you think the victor has any pitty for his enemy? If you would like more information on Brenda Spencer, I recommend the Female Killers documentary, I Dont Like Mondays, on YouTube. I Hate Mondays : The True Story of School Shooter Brenda Spencer HISTORY, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/school-shooting-in-san-diego. "Newsman Calls It a Career after 45 Years." Updated 12:38, 4 FEB 2022 Brenda Spencer has become known as the 'I don't like Mondays' killer (Image: Youtube/CBS 8) The 'Burger King Killer' who murdered two adults in a school shooting in 1979 when she was just 16, barricaded herself in her home and only came out when she was bribed with a meal from the fast-food chain. I would have to call to my mother two or three times each night to walk me around the inside of my house, just so I knew that Brenda Spencer was not inside my house, he recalled. Nothing can console me ever.. She was home alone, as her single father had left for work. They wanted out. In 1994, the song was re-released to promote the greatest-hits album Loudmouth. Between 1630 and 1635 the Spanish king Philip IV commissioned the construction of a royal palace just outside of Madrid. It was the perfect senseless act and this was the perfect senseless reason for doing it.. A commission from the King of Spain. So perhaps I wrote the perfect senseless song to illustrate it. He had died trying to help the children and Principal Wragg, killed by Ms. Spencer trying to liven up her Monday., She was lonely and scared, and became more and more depressed, he said. He called her back after that exchange and she agreed to chat. This was the band's final major appearance. The Surrender of Breda was one of the paintings that decorated the most lavish room in that palace, the Hall of Realms. However, the San Diego Union-Tribune described his role in breaking the story in a retrospective article commemorating the 2016 retirement of Editorial and Opinion Editor William Osborne, who was with them for 45 years. "Sure, who do you think did it?" For 20 minutes, Spencer continued to fire about 30 rounds into the crowd. Principal Burton Wragg was speaking with teacher Daryl Barnes (who was gave testimony on the episode) when the gun shots started and ran outside to see school children falling to the floor, some first grabbing a body part and screaming in pain before falling. Contradicting police reports that found no evidence of drugs or alcohol in her system, she said she had been taking both and was hallucinating at the time of the shooting. A teacher had called for her to duck. As Spencer acknowledged at one of her parole hearings: With every school shooting, I feel Im partially responsible. Follow I Can't Believe It's NonFiction on WordPress.com. 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. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. In 2001, Spencer accused her father of physically and sexually abusing her (he denied the allegation) and forcing her to share a bed with him. You didnt follow through with your plan.. I Don't Like Mondays: The True Story Behind America's First Modern School Shooting. By chance, one of the numbers he called was answered by Spencer herself. After 15 minutes and 30 rounds of ammunition, a security guard and police officer risked their lives to park a garbage truck between Brendas home and the school, blocking her view. This livens up the day.. Brenda Spencer opened fire on the front of Grover Cleveland Elementary School on the morning of January 29, 1979. A psychiatric evaluation in December 1978 concluded that she should be put in hospital as a danger to herself and others but again, her father resisted. Brenda Spencer - Biography - IMDb Brenda was denied parole in 2009, but will be eligible again in 2019. WildBlue Press, 28 Aug. 2022, https://wildbluepress.com/n-leigh-hunt-author-bio/. What if they got the idea from what I did?. The cellmate looked so much like Spencer, local police officers believed Brenda had been released early. Yet she wonders whether Spencer could snap again. I was 10 years old when I was shot by Brenda Spencer.. Christy Buell, 9, along with at least three other students, was shot in the abdomen. Did Brenda Ann Spencer Say She Shot People Because 'I Don't Like - MSN Its not meant to justify her, but speak to her state of mind at the time. Velzquezs depiction of the spears, vertically rising over the horizon, has received much attention, to the point that the painting is also known as, Exchange of keys from the Dutch to the Spanish captain (detail), Diego Velzquez, The Surrender of Breda, 163435, oil on canvas, 307 cm 367 cm (Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain). Menu. The Boomtown Rats performed the song for Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985. She said she had been under the influence of alcohol, pot, and downers. The death toll would have been far higher if a policeman hadnt blocked Spencers line of fire by parking a rubbish truck in the way. It was also revealed that she had told a police negotiator during the stand-off that she liked to watch [the children] squirm around after they had been shot and that she had targeted anyone wearing blue her favourite colour and those in featherdown-filled coats because she liked to see the feathers fly as the bullets hit them. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. This contrasts with the Spanish troops located on the right, which are presented as a large, well-organized, and seasoned group. I don't like Mondays. Director John Dower Writer John Dower Stars Brenda Spencer Richard Sachs Gene Cubbison See production, box office & company info Watch on Freevee Watch Free on Freevee More watch options But the lawyer also noted that while visiting Spencer at a juvenile-detention facility after her arrest, the father had met a girl who resembled his daughter, but was younger. The principal of the school, Burton Wragg, was killed during the attack. Do you like Mondays? 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. While there, a journalist somehow found her home phone number and called. Well behaved. I don't like Mondays. At the time, mass shootings were rare in America, although there had been occasional gun attacks on school premises. Based on contemporaneous accounts, Spencer likely did say those words, though the evidence indicates she said them before she was arrested, not after (contrary to what's implied in the Reddit post). Her father still lives in the house where the shooting took place. 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. Her claims were treated with scepticism, given that she had never mentioned them before. TIMES STAFF WRITER CHINO, Calif. She won worldwide notoriety in 1979 when, as a freckled 16-year-old proclaiming, "I don't like Mondays," Brenda Spencer sprayed a San Diego elementary. Yet her father, who died in 2016, was by all accounts a very odd man. Robert Robb, a 28 year old police officer at the scene was shot in the neck. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. ", He grabbed a Criss+Cross directory that listed phone numbers by address and called. Between their calls, Wiegand believed the police had contacted Spencer. One of the numbers he dialed was that of the Spencer residence. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022. The song was a number-one single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks during the summer of 1979,[3] and ranks as the sixth-biggest hit of the UK in 1979. Yet, while it was all happening, so beautiful, so serene, I couldnt get over the perverse violence associated with my dads passing. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022. When Brenda was asked why she did it, she replied, "I don't like Mondays. Michael Suchar, age 56, school custodian, went to the aid of Mr. Wragg and was also shot., Youre shooting people as they come to the aid of others, he said. She then spoke words that have gained ever more truth after ever more mass shootings. Exchange of keys from the Dutch to the Spanish captain (detail), Diego Velzquez, The center of the painting is dominated by the exchange of the keys. As the children lined up outside of the gates, Spencer took out the .22 semiautomatic rifle that shed received as a Christmas gift from her father. This livens up the day". Oddest of all, he married his daughters 17-year-old prison cellmate and brought her to live in the house from which Spencer had shot at the school. Did Brenda Ann Spencer Say She Shot People Because 'I Don't Like Don't have an account? I Don't Like Mondays (TV Movie 2006) - IMDb A hunting enthusiast, he had enough ammunition in the house for a small army, according to one of his daughters classmates. Wallace left the house about 7am and Brenda said she spent the next hour and a half getting drunk and doing drugs. Thirty years later, Miller beheld her in another proceeding and asked the board not to parole her. Parole Denied to Woman Who Killed 2 in 1979 School Shooting I didnt think it all the way through, Several children were injured by gunshot wounds. In 1979, a five-feet-one-inch, eighty pound sixteen year old girl would become the first school shooter in United States history. Two were killed, including the head teacher, Burton Wragg, who ran outside and was hit as he tried to help injured children, and the school caretaker, who had tried to rescue the head. Direct link to writersurprise's post When the defeated are on , Posted 8 years ago. I read it as it came out. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022. The custodians brother, Andrew Suchar also submitted a statement, noting that Michael had survived two ship sinkings during the war only to be killed by a 16-year-old in a schoolyard. You hit one of those fellows, too, the commissioner noted. 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. As a boy he had nightmares in which Spencer popped up out of a bathtub to finish him off. 'I don't like Mondays' mass murderer Brenda Ann Spencer eligible for It would have been the drugs and the alcohol talking., The commissioner quoted the police negotiators report, which said she had told him, It was fun to watch the children that had red and blue ski jackets on, as they made perfect targets. The negotiator added that she told him she liked to watch them squirm around after they had been shot.. In her 2001 parole hearing, Brenda would claim, for the first time, that her father sexually molested her almost nightly from the time that she was nine years old until the shooting when she was 16. Stunned by the tragic shooting, Bob Geldof, the lead singer of the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, wrote a song titled I Dont Like Mondays. Released just months after the attack, the tune topped the U.K. charts for four weeks, and it also received extensive airtime in the U.S. And according to The Advertiser, the song did not go unnoticed by Spencer. 'Burger King Killer' went on school shooting rampage as she didn't like Supporters, though, say she would not have shot anyone if her emotional problems had been addressed. Spencers absent mother, Dot, claimed she suspected father and daughter had an unhealthy relationship but said she couldnt afford a lawyer to fight for custody. Pandemonium ensued as staff charged out of the school in San Diego to help terrified and injured children, shouting at parents to drive on as they arrived to drop off more pupils. But after 13 years of working in a psychiatric hospital, she said she can understand why she went down the road she did she never got the help she needed. I was shooting into the parking lot.. "FACT CHECK: I Don't Like Mondays." We were all very upset and shocked on the way to the hospital, because no one would tell us Michaels condition. Then, she aimed it out the window and began firing at the kids. 40 years ago, Brenda Spencer took lives, changed lives in a mass According to the book "I Don't Like Mondays," after 1979, Wiegand would never report on the shooting again. Having descended from his horse, and looking at the Dutch commander eye-to-eye, Spinola places his hand over Justinus shoulder, most likely in order to stop him from kneeling. And then there was a statement by Steve Wragg, son of Principal Burton Wragg. He is one of many opposing her release on grounds that she remains a risk to the people of his city. Senda Berenson | Biography & Facts | Britannica The San Bernardino County Sun, March 28, 1979. The video begins with the Boomtown Rats performing in a choir with children in the pews miming the chorus ("Tell Me Why?"). Though she damaged the windows, she didnt hurt anyone that time around. Now, however, Spencers freedom may be in sight. It is important to notice how Velzquez established the difference between these two groups. Brenda Spencer had a reputation for being a problem child who struggled with numerous health issues. Why did you have to shoot the people at the school? the commissioner asked. Some lawyers involved in the case believe she will soon succeed in a parole application. [] I'd like to know that I actually did say that if I did.". Despite what former District Attorney Richard Sachs said on the episode of Deadly Women, Spencer's rampage was not "the country's, if not the world's first school shooting case before 1979." Direct link to Javier Berzal 's post The youth of the Dutch so, Posted 8 years ago. A new move to learn the names and stories of the homeless is driving a bid to cut Adelaides rough sleeper numbers to effectively zero. She wrote to me saying she was glad shed done it because Id made her famous, Geldof said. Unfortunately, thats exactly what happened. Direct link to Jayce Gilmore's post Why did the war start?, Posted 8 years ago. The commissioner said they would get back to all that. In the Female Killers documentary, I Dont Like Mondays [1], Dot describes her daughter as always happy and a good child. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022. Woman Imprisoned for '79 School Slayings Withdraws Parole Request What if they got the idea from what I did?. According to Geldof, he wrote the song after reading a telex report at Georgia State University's campus radio station, WRAS, on the shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who fired at children in a school playground at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California, on 29 January 1979, killing two adults and injuring eight children and one . Between 1630 and 1635 the Spanish king Philip IV commissioned the construction of a royal palace just outside of Madrid. She added, "I'm [on] PCP [a hallucinogenic drug], you're liable to say anything." Many are convinced the other killers were inspired by her. When police entered the Spencer residence on the day of the shooting, they found whiskey and beer bottles littering the house and it was later revealed that Brenda and her father shared a mattress on the floor. Female school shooter in Nashville is just the FIFTH in history - MSN 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. I just did it for the fun of it," she continued. Do you have any idea why youd go out of your way to harm so many innocent people? the commissioner asked, I didnt consider that other people would get hurt, she said. Spencer was 16 on Jan. 29, 1979, when she opened fire with a .22 rifle on Grover Cleveland Elementary School across from her home in San Diego, killing the principal and the custodian while. Cam [Charles] Miller was seven when she shot him in the back. She, because of the language and cultural differences in the United States, always counted on him to manage their affairs. Because I knew that if I fired on the school the police would show up, and they would shoot me and kill me, she said. I was 9 years old when I was shot, he began. 1979 Cleveland Elementary School shooting, List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States, "10 Underrated '80s Bands You Need to Hear Now", "BBC Radio 6 Music Classic Singles, I Don't Like Mondays", "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Music (I Don't Like Mondays)", "Geldof and Fingers reach settlement over 'I Don't Like Mondays', "Official Singles Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company", "Kent Music Report No 288 31 December 1979 > National Top 100 Singles for 1979", The Boomtown Rats I Don't Like Mondays", The Irish Charts Search Results I Don't Like Mondays", "The Boomtown Rats Chart History (Hot 100)", Offiziellecharts.de The Boomtown Rats I Don't Like Mondays", "Image: RPM Weekly Library and Archives Canada", "Top Selling Singles of 1979 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart", "RPM Top 100 Singles - December 20, 1980", "Canadian single certifications Boomtown Rats I Don't Like Mondays", "British single certifications Boomtown Rats I Don't Like Mondays", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=I_Don%27t_Like_Mondays&oldid=1162615694, This page was last edited on 30 June 2023, at 06:08.
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