Brenda Spencer is a sixteen-year-old killer, one of the five criminals who participated in the largest mass shootings of schoolchildren in the history of world forensic science. The perfect crime has no motive, people paid with their lives just for the fun of a bored girl.
Childhood Brands
The girl was born in the USA, California, the city of San Diego, in 1962. Full name - Brenda Ann Spencer.
According to the testimony of neighbors and family acquaintances, her parents often talked about weapons in front of her, moreover, her father even taught her how to shoot. The girl herself from an early age was interested in weapons and everything connected with it. The stories of violence did not leave her indifferent. Brenda loved to listen to stories with tragic endings, she liked the details of bloody murders.
People who knew the girl claim that there was a theft in her biography. Brenda Spencer dabbled in drugs and often skipped school.
Parents were not too worried about this behavior of their daughter, her father supported her interest in firearms. When she turned 16years, for Christmas, her father gave her a rifle with a telescopic sight as a gift. A good addition to the gift was a box that contained more than 500 cartridges.
The day the tragedy happened
Almost a year after receiving the semi-automatic 22-caliber weapon, namely on January 9, 1979, there was a shooting at a school that took the lives of several people.
Sixteen-year-old Brenda Spencer fired from the window of her house at children who came to a school located across the street from the ill-fated house. On that day, Grover Cleveland Elementary School students were outside, waiting for their teacher Burton Wragg to open the gate for them. The total number of shots fired from the killer's window is 36.
During the uninterrupted firing, two teachers died, who at the cost of their lives saved the children. Burton Regg, the teacher the children were waiting for, was killed almost immediately. The second victim, Michael Sucher, took his own bullet while trying to save a fallen colleague. Eight schoolchildren and a police officer who ran to the gunshots were wounded.
After shooting
The shooting at the school ended, and the killer, frightened of the consequences, hid in the house. She barricaded herself and resisted the persuasion of the police for 7 hours. Brenda threatened with more shots, so for such a long time she could not be forced to surrender to the police. Only after this time had elapsed did she voluntarily surrender to justice.
The search showed that the housethere was a drunk can of beer, there was a bottle of whiskey, but the police who detained the criminal claimed that she was sober.
Creepy explanation
The killer's classmates after the shooting of schoolchildren recalled that Brenda Spencer dreamed of an act after which they would talk about her on television. These conversations began a week before the sad event, but, unfortunately, no one paid attention to them.
The worst part of this story was the announcement of the reasons for the shooting from the mouth of the killer. Brenda Spencer explained her act by the fact that she shot at children only for her own pleasure, and also for the sake of laughter. It's just that the girl was having fun at that moment.
The tragedy happened on a Monday, so the killer ended her speech with "I just don't like Mondays."
Song dedicated to the tragedy
The story of the shooting of schoolchildren received wide publicity and inspired Irish musician Bob Geldof to create the song "I don't like Mondays." The composition was released a month after the tragedy and immediately became popular.
Spencer's relatives tried in vain to prevent the release of the hit. The song topped the UK charts for four weeks in a row in 1979. Only in San Diego, the city where the tragedy happened, to spare the feelings of the locals, the song was banned for several years.
Severe sentence
Justice was merciless. The killer was tried as an adult. The crime was committed in front ofnumerous witnesses, so the girl pleaded guilty. For two murders and assault with a firearm, she received a life sentence. She can only ask for clemency after 25 years in prison.
Spencer has repeatedly looked for ways to go free. In 1993, she tried to prove that she had committed an act while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Expertise conducted at the time of the crime, refute this version. The next time (2001), she began to put forward the version that the cruel act on her part was preceded by the abuse of her father, but these facts were also not confirmed.
Four times the killer asked for parole and was denied four times. Brenda Spencer is currently serving her sentence and is hoping for a pardon. However, according to the rules of detention, the next time she will qualify for pardon will be in 2019.
The history of forensic science has many stories about shootings that are arranged by schoolchildren. The reasons for such actions are different: alcohol, drugs, resentment from classmates or abuse of teachers, mental problems, disturbed peace of mind. The tragedy that happened at Grover Cleveland Elementary School is most striking in that the killer took the lives of people for the sake of entertainment. Numerous tests and examinations proved that Spencer was absolutely adequate, she was not offended at school, loved at home, andshe was completely sober at the time of the murder.
