Brenda Spencer is a sixteen-year-old killer who entered the top five criminals who participated in the largest-scale mass shootings of schoolchildren in the history of world forensics. The perfect crime has no motive, people have paid with their lives just for the sake of the fun of a bored girl.
Children's years Brands
The girl was born in the USA, California, the city of San Diego, in 1962. Full name is Brenda Ann Spencer.
According to the testimony of neighbors and friends of the family, her parents often talked about weapons with her, moreover, her father even taught her to shoot. The girl herself from an early age was interested in weapons and everything connected with it. The stories about violence did not leave her indifferent. Brenda loved listening to stories with a tragic end, she liked the details of the bloody killings.
People who knew the girl claim that theft took place in her biography. Brenda Spencer dabbled in drugs and often skipped classes at school.
Parents were not too worried about their daughter's similar behavior; her father supported her interest in firearms. When she was 16 years old, on Christmas, her father presented her with a rifle with a telescopic sight as a gift. A good addition to the gift was a box in which there were more than 500 rounds.
The day on which the tragedy occurred
Almost a year after receiving a 22-caliber semi-automatic weapon, namely on January 9, 1979, there was a shooting at the school, which took the lives of several people.
Sixteen-year-old Brenda Spencer fired from the window of her house the children who came to school, located across the street from the ill-fated house. That day, Grover Cleveland's elementary school students were on the street, waiting for their teacher Burton Regg to open the gates to them. The total number of shots sounded from the window of the killer is 36.
During the uninterrupted fire, two teachers died who saved their children at the cost of their lives. Burton Regg, the teacher the children were waiting for, was killed almost immediately. The second dead, Michael Sucher, got his bullet, trying to save a fallen colleague. Eight schoolchildren and a policeman who came running on shots were injured.
After shooting
Shooting at school ended, and the killer, fearing the consequences, hid in the house. She barricaded herself and for 7 hours did not succumb to the entreaties of the police. Brenda threatened with new shots, so for such a long time she could not be forced to surrender to the police. Only after this time did she voluntarily surrender to the hands of justice.
The search revealed that there was a
can of beer drunk in the house
, there was a bottle of whiskey there, but the police who detained the criminal claimed that she was sober.
Creepy explanation
Classmates of the killer 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 thing in this story was the announcement of the reasons for the shooting from the lips of the killer. Brenda Spencer explained her act by shooting children only for her pleasure, and also for laughter. It was just that the girl at that moment had entertainment.
The tragedy happened on Monday, so the killer ended her speech with the phrase: “I just don't like Mondays.”
Tragedy Song
The story of the shooting of schoolchildren was widely publicized and inspired the 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.
Relatives Spencer tried unsuccessfully to prevent the exit of the hit. The song was the leader in the British charts in 1979 for four consecutive weeks. Only in San Diego - the city where the tragedy happened to spare the feelings of local residents, the song was banned for several years.
Strict sentence
Justice was merciless. The killer was tried as an adult. The crime was committed in front of numerous witnesses, so the girl admitted her guilt. For two murders and an assault with a firearm, she received a life sentence. She can ask for pardon only after 25 years in prison.
Spencer has repeatedly looked for ways to get free. In 1993, she tried to prove that she had committed an act while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Examinations conducted at the time the crime was committed disprove this version. The next time (2001), she began to put forward the version that a cruel act on her part was preceded by abuse of her father, but these facts were not confirmed either.
Four times, the killer requested parole, and four times she was refused. Brenda Spencer is now serving a sentence and hopes for a pardon. However, according to the rules of imprisonment, the next time, giving her the right to ask for clemency, will come in 2019.
The history of forensics has many stories of shootings that suit students. 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 occurred at Grover Cleveland's primary school is most striking in that the killer took the lives of people for fun. Numerous tests and examinations proved that Spencer was absolutely adequate, she was not offended at school, loved at home, and she was completely sober at the time of the murder.