“Ugh, it’s Monday” are the words that usually follow the arrival of the most dreaded day of the week. The sighs floating in the air are palpable and nothing seems possible. Mondays always carry with them a negative connotation and contain components such as depression, fatigue, and anguish. But to a San Diego elementary school, and to a troubled sixteen year old, Monday, January 29, 1979 held an even more distressing meaning.
Students at Grover Cleveland Elementary School, located in San Diego, California, began what they believed would be a normal Monday morning like any other, with bells ringing and students racing to their classes. Little did they know, however, that across the street, sixteen-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer was aiming her .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle right at society’s ultimate refuge, the elementary school, and its surroundings. After the first bell rang, Brenda broke the panels on the front door of her home, which was located right across the street from the elementary school. And she began to fire. The school’s principal, Burton Wragg, while rushing outside, was hit on the shoulder and chest with Spencer’s bullets and eventually died. Michael Suchar, the school’s custodian, ran outside with a blanket in order to cover Wragg and keep him from going into shock, but he quickly became the second victim of Spencer’s shooting and lost his life. In between all the chaos, 28 year old Robert Robb, a recent graduate of the police academy, while examining Wragg’s and Suchar’s bodies, was shot under his right shoulder blade.1 He would go on to survive though, along with the eight other children who were wounded in the incident. At least three of those children had abdominal wounds. A nine-year-old student, Cam Miller, was struck in the back with a bullet that exited through his chest without hitting any internal organs. Another, Christy Buell, was shot through her abdomen and in the buttocks, and had to undergo surgery in order to repair her intestine.2
When Gus Stevens, a reporter for the San Diego Evening Tribune, began calling around the area to gain more information about the shooting, he coincidentally placed a call to Spencer’s home where she gave him exactly what he wanted. She described the shooter, a sixteen year old, and the shooter’s address. When Stevens realized that she gave him her own address, he recognized what was going on and requested an interview while another staff member informed the police of the situation. The police, now aware of where the shots were coming from, were able evacuate the children and obstruct Spencer’s line of sight while trying to negotiate with her. After several hours, Brenda Spencer surrendered her weapon and several rounds of ammunition, and was subsequently arrested. While on the phone with Stevens, Spencer had stated that she was just shooting for the “fun of it.” She went on to say that she just didn’t like Mondays and did this “because it’s a way to cheer up the day.”3
Contrary to her initial claim, she later went on to state in her 2001 parole hearing that she had been “sexually abused by [her] father” and was “waiting for the cops to show up so they could shoot [her].”4 This new information has fueled many more theories today about Brenda Spencer’s true motives in committing such a crime. During her pretrial psychological testing, an injury to Spencer’s temporal lobe came to light. Spencer has also stated in a letter from prison that she experiences “grand mal seizures” that she has to counteract with medications.5 Such a brain injury would definitely be a precursor to epilepsy, which is two to four times more common among violent offenders than the public.6 The lack of treatment she received for this disease, to some, proves the neglect that she experienced from her family and in her childhood. Psychologist Jonathan Fast introduces the idea that her brain injury, abuse, and the effects of it pushed her to her final actions. He believes that the shame, ridicule, inferiority, and powerlessness that she felt encouraged her to go as far as she did. In another letter she wrote in prison, she stated that her “father had done everything a person could do to another person. The beatings, the touching, the emotional abuse.” She went on to state that no one, not teachers or counselors, gave her assistance through this, so she simply thought that this was how the world and how life worked. When her father gifted her the .22 caliber rifle, she thought that he was finally telling her to do it: to take her life successfully, unlike her past suicide attempts, and leave the world forever.7
Whether these theories are true or not, Brenda Spencer was tried as an adult and pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and nine counts of assault. She was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison, and is still serving her sentence at the California Institute for Women. The shooting has inspired a song by the Boomtown Rats called “I Don’t Like Mondays,” and has also gained other media coverage through a documentary.8 Her action went down in history as the first high profile school shooting and has become a vanguard to many future, unimaginable school situations and violent outbreaks. Whether Spencer was a cold-hearted killer or a truly lost and confused soul that simply wanted an escape, it is undeniable that her horrible actions have had some frightening consequences in our modern world.
- Jonathan Fast, Ceremonial Violence (New York: The Overlook Press, 2008), 25, 70-71. ↵
- Tamara Jones, “Look Back in Sorrow,” Good Housekeeping 227, no.5 (November 1998): 118. ↵
- Jonathan Fast, “Unforgiven and Alone: Brenda Spencer and Secret Shame,” in School Shootings: International Research, Case Studies, And Concepts For Prevention, ed. Nils Böckler (New York: Springer, 2013), 253-255. ↵
- Debra Sevey, “Subsequent Parole Consideration Hearing of Brenda Spencer,” (Capitol Electronic Reporting, 2001), 15-16. ↵
- Jennifer Furio, Letters From Prison: Voices Of Women Murderers (New York: Algora Pub., 2001), 134. ↵
- Jonathan Fast, ” Unforgiven and Alone: Brenda Spencer and Secret Shame,” in School Shootings: International Research, Case Studies, And Concepts For Prevention, ed. Nils Böckler (New York: Springer, 2013), 251. ↵
- Jennifer Furio, Letters From Prison: Voices Of Women Murderers (New York: Algora Pub., 2001), 134-135. ↵
- Encyclopedia of School Crime and Violence, September 2011, s.v. “Brenda Spencer,” by Laura L. Finley. ↵
This is the first time ive heard of Brenda Spencer and of this school shooting. It is hard to know that someone would do all of this just because they hate Mondays. There could’ve been other ways for her to express her frustrations like calling in. There isn’t any valid reason for someone to hurt and endanger children’s lives.
It’s unbelievable that this is one of those school shootings that gets swept under the rug and grouped in with the rest around the country. Whatever the motive of Brenda Spencer was, so many individuals should not have suffered. Overall, great piece, I hope that we continue to look at what it is that is making these students want to inflict such pain and horror.
This is the first time I’ve heard of Brenda Spencer, but it’s definitely not my first time hearing of a school shooting. What goes through these peoples minds is beyond comprehension and empathy. What’s sad is this stuff is so normal now, and it’s only sad when school shootings occur but no longer surprising. I wish these people could seek help in ways where it does not involve harming or killing others.
School shootings are something terrible that sadly has been happening more then often lately. But, I had never heard of this school shooting before. I found it hard to believe how someone could put kids life in danger just because of the simply fact that they hate Mondays. Having personal experience with several lockdowns for a potential school shooting I can say it is never a joking matter. School admin take the lives of their students and staff very seriously. This article was a very touchy topic and the author did a great job going about it.
This case is not often talked about, and many times it is overlooked. I think that there could have been many things wrong with her, and most times, most events are linked back to childhood trauma. One of the statements that stood out to me the most was the line where she talked about her father gifting her the weapon and how she saw it as a chance to take her own life, when it could have been interpreted in many different ways.
School shootings are something horrific that sadly has been happening often. I had never heard of this school shooting in particular. Its just ridiculous how someone puts kids life in danger just because of the simply fact that they hate Mondays. I understand where she’s coming from. In reality she was traumatize she could have found this as an exit to the pain she has been holding. But never it is right to put innocent life’s in risk. Never take the anger into taking the actions in your own hands. I understand she saw there was no one who can hear her. I don’t know what she could possibly do but point is that a kids life should never be a target.
I don’t think I ever heard of this school shooting until now. This sixteen year old was really out of her mind for this, she didn’t have a true meaning for why she shoot to injure and/or kill people. Because “she didn’t like Monday” that’s the dumbest excuse I have ever heard. School shootings are the most unexpected and a terrifying moment to experience especially as a child. I remember being at school scared for my life wondering if we were going to have a school shooting one day, it’s scary to think that because we will never know when it will happen. It’s so much to take in.
She did it because she wanted to commit suicide. She had tried but(obviously) failed to do so before. So she figured that she would shoot at the school, the police would kill her but she surrendered.She didnt intend to kill anyone(not trying to validate what she did)but she just had good shooting skills.