Brenda Spencer lived directly opposite Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, a location that would become infamous due to her actions one tragic morning.
As students gathered outside the school, eagerly awaiting the principal to unlock the gates, Spencer took aim with a semi-automatic rifle from her home. In a shocking act of violence, she unleashed 36 rounds toward the unsuspecting crowd.
Her rampage resulted in the deaths of the school principal and a custodian, both of whom heroically attempted to shield the children. In addition, eight students and a police officer, who sustained a neck injury, were injured but fortunately survived the ordeal.
Following the shooting, Spencer retreated into her home, creating a standoff situation. As police negotiators positioned themselves outside, she answered a phone call that would become crucial to resolving the tense situation.
Spencer then barricaded herself in her home.
As police negotiators waited outside, she answered a phone call.
A reporter from local paper the Evening Tribune had been cold-calling random telephone numbers in the neighbourhood to speak to potential witnesses.
When the reporter realised who he had on the phone, he asked her why she had done what she had done.
“I don’t like Mondays,” she replied.
“This livens up the day.”
For six hours, police were in a standoff with Spencer.
She eventually surrendered after being promised a Burger King meal.
Though still a minor, she was tried as an adult on murder charges.
While awaiting trial, one of her cellmates later began a relationship with Spencer’s father upon her release. They later married and divorced.
The day after her 18th birthday, Spencer was sentenced to life behind bars.
Spencer was denied parole for the seventh time last year.
“The shock of this brazen crime rippled through the community in San Diego at the time and it continues to hold a place of infamy in the history of mass shootings in our nation,” district attorney Summer Stephan said.
“While new laws are in place that can potentially speed up releases for individuals who were convicted as minors, as well as inmates who are over 50 years old, our position is that the totality of the horrific circumstances of this crime and this case do not warrant release and we are gratified that the parole board agreed with our position.”
She will be eligible for parole again in 2028.
Six months after the shooting, Irish pop band The Boomtown Rats released the song I Don’t Like Mondays, inspired by the shooting.
It was a massive hit in Ireland and the UK, but radio stations in San Diego refused to play the song.
“She wrote to me saying she was glad she’d done it because I’d made her famous,” lead singer Bob Geldof later said in an interview.
“Which is not a good thing to live with.”
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