More than four decades have passed since Brendas attack, and shes had plenty of time to reflect on her shocking actions. I did however spend a couple of years working in a Federal maximum security Penitentiary (USP). When they went to get Skylar, they told her that they were just out driving for the night and were going to a town close by called Brave where they would go into the forest to smoke marijuana. The sandbox, she thinks -- she will push them to the ground in the sandbox and shield them with her own scarred body. For Christmas 1978 her father, Wallace, had given her a .22 rifle as a present. [18] It was released in July 1979 and was number one for four weeks in the United Kingdom,[29] and was the band's biggest hit in their native Ireland. He was only sentenced to the maximum of 21 years (with the possibility of 5 years at a time being added in the future). While there, she spoke by telephone to a reporter from The San Diego Union-Tribune, who had been randomly calling telephone numbers in the neighborhood. Brenda Spencer was 16 when she opened fire at a San Diego elementary school from a window in her home, leaving two dead and nine more injured in 1979 . According to court documents she would open fire from her home aiming at young children waiting to get into the school. Eventually, Spencer surrendered peacefully. The reason murder rises to the level of a capital crime is because you cant restore what you have stolenanothers life. When another neighborhood is on the evening news, and Buell's father sees the stunned faces of parents in Jonesboro or Paducah or Littleton, he finds himself hungry for any scrap of information about the families of these children who kill, hoping, as he still does with Brenda Spencer these 20 long years later, to put all the pieces together and finally make sense of it. Bettmann/Contributor/Getty ImagesBrenda Spencer had a reputation for being a problem child who struggled with numerous health issues. One cannot fully repent or be fully rehabilitated until the restoration process has been complete. Hart was a private investigator involved in the case and interviewed Spencer's mother, father, brother, sister, friends, and neighbors within months of the attack. She has thus far been before a parole board four times and has been denied each time. What if they got the idea from what I did?. She was a problem child who was widely known as a drug abuser with a violent streak. I am so glad that we outnumber you. They had a child, and the little girl attended Buell's preschool. Yet Brenda didnt appear to be intoxicated. She even had a few violent instances on her track record, including firing a BB gun into the windows of the elementary school campus, shattering the windows. Unfortunately, Brendas father wasnt able to help his daughter with her struggles. After 20 minutes of shooting, police surrounded Spencers home for six hours before she surrendered. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Brenda Ann Spencer fired a total of 36 rounds at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School and when the shooting stopped, the principal and a custodian were dead, dying where they had fallen in front of the school. brenda ann spencer father. He still has occasional nightmares about Spencer. Knowing that Brenda already had a black dot next to her name gave people chills. Rachels friends had the same exact concern about Shelia, who they felt was turning their friend into a new person. [33][34][35], The Investigation Discovery network portrayed Spencer's crimes in one of the three cases presented in the premiere episode of season 2 on the crime documentary series Deadly Women, titled "Thrill Killers", first air date: October 9, 2008.[36][37][38]. He wishes he had. He could hear the gunfire while he was taking his morning shower, and raced down to the school to see what was happening, crying out his daughter's name from behind the SWAT team cordon. Another tweet around that time spoke of a similar feeling of betrayal. The modular nature of the design lends itself to creativity. I dont know how Californias female prisons are. Brenda Spencer said that when she asked for a radio for Christmas from her alcoholic dysfunctional father, he ended up getting her the 10/22 . Blank, empty stare. She noticed that the stories that Shelia and Rachel gave were too similar to be believable. 'I Don't Like Mondays' school shooter Brenda Ann Spencer to make bid However, Rachel was too scared to go through with the wiretapping. A version of this article originally appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine. This helps keep the gun affordable. However, if you took a closer look you could see that there was some conflict brewing amongst them, as you would expect from a group of high school girls. tiny homes reno nv; how boeing is implementing kaizen concept in their manufacturing Suddenly all the kids were gone. [14], After firing thirty-six times,[12] Spencer barricaded herself inside her home for several hours. As of 2022, Spencer has been unsuccessful at six parole board hearings. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. A mental health treatment program may have helped Brenda, but instead, her father refused to give her permission to be admitted into a psych hospital. When another school shooting is on the evening news, be it Jonesboro or Paducah or Pearl or Littleton, Cam Miller finds himself watching for the fearful faces of young survivors. One time sophomore year, me and Rachel were at practice for Pride and Prejudice, and Rachel had her phone up to her ear, and she was laughing. Since he/she cannot give back that which was stolen, he/she must do the next best thingthat is forfeit his/her own life. A Case of the Mondays: Brenda Spencer and the Cleveland Elementary From the outside, the three girls were an unbreakable pod that shined like the sun. We will see next year, I believe, that even a super-majority in Congress cannot force a rogue administration to obey and enforce duly enacted laws (as at the border, the Hillary debacle, the Russian hoax, Hunter-Joe, habeus corpus for 1/6 trespassers and on and on and on. However, Spencers drug and alcohol tests were all negative. At Christmas of that year, he gave Brenda a Ruger 10/22 semiautomatic .22 rifle, a riflescope, and a 500-round brick of ammunition. Hi, LeRoy. We typically left them in gun racks in the back windows of our pickup trucks or in car trunks in anticipation of after-school hunting trips. Spencer shot and killed Wragg as he and teacher Daryl Barnes tried to help children. No! Thats because at that time in that place it would have been literally unimaginable to shoot up a school. He blacked out briefly. She injured eight children and a police officer, and killed the principal and a custodian. Brenda Spencer Teen Killer School Shooter - My Crime Library First, on the television news from his hospital bed, which showed police leading away a petite freckled girl with long red hair and aviator glasses. [17] In prison, Spencer was diagnosed with epilepsy and received medication to treat epilepsy and depression. She continued, I would hear her on the phone giving Shelia all kinds of hell: Dont be stupid! "I was psyching myself up," he explains. Therefore, the murderer must be held fully accountable. Sadly, there has been a number of school shootings since Brenda Spencer's rampage, yet she is often considered the first person to ever target the (many) vulnerable victims at a school. Her parents were separated, and she lived in squalor with her alcoholic father, Wallace Spencer. She was constantly posting on social media about her missing friend, with one of her posts saying rest easy, Skylar, youll ALWAYS be my best friend. The janitor used to give me erasers. Brenda alleged that her father Wallace both beat and sexually abused her. The program offers privileges to incarcerated individuals that voluntarily join the program after the age of 55 years old. Aged 16 at the time of the shooting, she was 5'2" (157cm) and had bright red hair. Still, her father gave her a .22 semi-automatic rifle and ammunition as a Christmas gift at the end of 1978. What if they got the idea from what I did?, About the author: [5][2] Spencer has been repeatedly reminded of these statements at parole hearings. Early Life Brenda's parents divorced when she was young and lived with her father. As if Skylars death was not twisted enough, the derangement of Shelia and Rachel makes it worse. Required fields are marked *. He was gunned down, too. A reporter from theSan Diego Union-Tribunedialed random numbers in the neighborhood until he got Spencer on the phone. As reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, she pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in 1980. Before her life was taken, she spoke her final words, asking Shelia and Rachel, Why?. Empty beer and whiskey bottles were scattered around the room, and approximately 200 rounds of unused ammunition were in the home. 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. Some found it strange that Rachel went to a two-week Catholic summer camp right when her best friend went missing. She had a difficult childhood with an alcoholic father who refused to let her get inpatient treatment for depression. Brenda Spencer in 1979 The Shot Heard Around the World It was January 29, 1979, when one of the first school shootings took place in a suburb of San Diego. Spencer later said: "I asked for a radio and he bought me a gun." When asked why he might . You learn to basically cope. Whether or not Brenda desired to be famous, the high-profile shootings skyrocketed her popularity, for all of the wrong reasons. Best explanation why the death penalty for deliberate murder is not only just but the society that disregards it deserves to fall. There is a memorial to Skylar at a tree in Pennsylvania that David Neese visits to mourn, and even if it may bring him some peace, the sadness never goes away. When out of earshot we called him Poach Smith. She resembled Brenda. And although nine counts of attempted murder were ultimately dismissed from the case, Spencer was sentenced to concurrent terms of 25 years to life in prison for her crimes. Spencer was a predictably poor student with truancy issues, but she had a talent for photography. [dead link][5][7] [8], Acquaintances said Spencer expressed hostility toward policemen, had spoken about shooting one, and had talked of doing something big to get on television. However, there was yet to be enough evidence to charge the girls for any crime. I have an issue with a 16-year-old daughter of mine. Both father and daughter slept on a single mattress on the living room floor in a house strewn with empty bottles from alcoholic drinks. . Spencers deadly plot was far from the earliest attack on an American school, but it was one of the first modern school shootings that led to multiple deaths and injuries. In 2005 Brendas prison girlfriend was released and she was reported for an incident of self-harm. Born in 1962 in San Diego, California, and raised across the street from the Grover Cleveland Elementary School, by her sixteenth birthday Brenda stood all of 52 and sported bright red hair. Shelia didnt even knock on the door when she came over. Trivia (3) On January 29, 1979, sixteen year old Brenda Spencer pointed her .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle that she had received as a Christmas present from her father out her bedroom window to San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary School across the street. At age fifteen she was arrested for shooting out the windows in the school with her air rifle as well as burglary. Brenda Spencer was born on April 3, 1962 in San Diego, California, USA. Her attorneys continued to argue that the treatment she received from her father which allegedly included sexual abuse was the real reason for her act of senseless violence. This livens up the day." Some things are so tragic that there is no silver lining, and that is definitely true of the murder of Skylar Neese. She resembled Brenda. For 20 years now, Wallace Spencer has maintained a public silence about his daughter's crime. Several years after the shooting, Bob sat down for an interview and said, She wrote to me saying she was glad shed done it because Id made her famous. Prior to this law, missing persons reports were filed too slowly. "When I saw her, the look she gave me -- her whole appearance was very evil and scary. Almost a year after receiving the semi-automatic weapons of the 22nd caliber, namely . According to The Daily Beast, she would later claim that her father was abusive toward her and that her mother just wasnt there.. Because the process (accountability, repentance, and restitution) requires it. The preparations for the murder involved Shelia bringing kitchen knives and Rachel getting one of her dads shovels. She was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison, and is still serving her sentence at the California Institute for Women. It was time for Brenda to be held responsible for her actions and she was charged with two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon. 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. 2019-01-30 - PAULINE REPARD Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Prison should be reserved for those guilty of minor or first time felonies, where there is a chance of rehabilitation. Despite his belief in the teenage killer, he was not hired to represent Brenda at her parole hearings. Her guilt became increasingly apparent, with her crying frequently at her 2016 parole eligibility hearing. And although Brenda Spencer had only been 16 at the time of the shooting, she was charged as an adult due to the severity of her crimes. Neighbors claimed Spencer had a history of petty theft, drug abuse, and truancy. Spencer barricaded herself in her house for hours before an offer for a Burger King meal from negotiators convinced her to surrender. [3], Brenda Ann Spencer (born April 3, 1962) is an incarcerated American murderer who in 1979 committed a school shooting at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in the San Diego Unified School District in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego, California. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Hi, Will. He didnt even call the boys parents. The number of young shooters whose first taste of a trigger was that of a 10/22 defies counting. Principal Wragg rushed into the line of fire to drag children to safety and was shot down as well. Daryls memory wasnt the only one that bubbled to the surface. Disturbed teens are just as capable of committing the most heinous crimes as their adult counterparts, and Skylar Neese's story proves that even further. In 1979, 16 year old Brenda Ann Spencer was arrested after - Reddit This livens up the day.With the shocking confession, Brenda was about to face justice. I agree. Why? Soaps.com has the latest, new General Hospital spoilers for two weeks ahead from Monday, May 1, to Friday, May 12. I held it in. The school offered counseling immediately after the shooting, but Cam never went. Brenda Spencer leaves court, Oct. 1, 1979, in Santa Ana after pleading guilty to charges stemming from her shooting spree. She started dressing as a boyand learned to hunt, under her fathers influence. The Neeses could never get their girl back but they may live with the satisfaction of knowing that they may have saved the lives of others. Despite being under scrutiny from the police, Shelia remained calm in a way that just seems creepy. Today, Brenda Spencer has been inducted into the Golden Girls Club at the California Institution for Women. In December a psychiatric evaluation arranged by her probation officer recommended Spencer be admitted to a mental hospital due to her depressed state, but her father refused to give permission. Brenda Spencer facts like Brenda Spencer, who shot up an elementary school at age 16, killing two and injuring eight children and a cop. A 7-year-old girl led him around a corner to a teacher. CAPTION: (Photo ran in an earlier edition) Police rush to the scene of a sniper attack on Grover Cleveland Elementary School in a San Diego suburb 20 years ago. The principal and a custodian were killed; eight children and police officer Robert Robb were injured. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) On the morning of January 29, 1979, teenager Brenda Spencer took a break from shooting people through her window to answer the phone. Death would have been welcome. In Shelias story, they got Skylar around 11 PM and dropped her off by midnight. Murder, rapes, gang rapes, assaults, forced prostitution, etc, etc. There may come a time when the shooting will be a blip in the memory of the neighborhood community in San Diego, yet that is a long time coming. He was wearing his brand-new blue down vest that day, he recalls, and a matching shirt. to guns and to stories of violence. In 1966, a gunman opened fire at the University of Texas and killed 17 people, and wounded 21 individuals. [5][7] Police officers found beer and whiskey bottles cluttered around the house but said Spencer did not appear to be intoxicated when arrested. Skylar walked back to the car to get the lighter when her friends snuck up on her. Although both have since died, Burtons legacy has remained alive - as well as Brendas reputation. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. We talk about it all the time. Chris decided his method of investigation into the case would be through social media, and he did so by making online accounts based on a persona he invented of a good-looking teenager who went to West Virginia University in Morgantown. Brenda-Spencer - San Diego Police Historical Association We feel a life sentence is only fair for someone guilty of all those things. While society continued to condemn Brendas actions, she hasbeen inducted into the Golden Girls club. brenda spencer father, wallace What she did was so awful, shooting at children. The standard 10/22 rifle comes with quality iron sights. One quick note regarding comments. Blue made him a target. Bob Geldof, lead singer of the Boomtown Rats was inspired by the tragic shooting, and Brendas bizarre motivation, and wrote the songI Dont Like Mondays. There were questions he meant to ask: How could you do something like that? Nine counts of attempted murder. "Oh, really?". A plaque and flagpole were erected at Cleveland Elementary in memory of the shooting victims. As ours is doing quickly. This was west of Morgantown and Star City, but Shelia and Rachel both made the claim that they went east. Brenda Ann Spencer (16 y.o) in Santa Ana, Ca, after pleading guilty to two counts of murder in a sniper attack, 1979. . When someone posts an ill advised accusation against you or your weekly audience, please allow us to respond in a timely manner. For 20 minutes, Spencer continued to fire about 30 rounds into the crowd. The Grover Cleveland Elementary School massacre is truly one of the most disturbing stories ever told, as both the assailantand most of the victims - were children. The principal was enjoying a cup of coffee in the front office when he heard a popping noise and charged outside, assuming he would find little boys setting off firecrackers. But whenever she did attend class, she raised eyebrows. Haley Wragg, Burtons granddaughter, was taught to fear Brendas release from prison. Luckily, no one was hurt at the time, but Brenda was put on probation for her crime. Because he never saw his attacker, because he never had a chance to defend himself, however futilely, Cam grew up with an overwhelming fear of leaving his back exposed. Miraculously, none of the children were killed, though eight of them were injured. When this part of the story was discovered, the thought that the girls had something to do with Skylars disappearance started to make more sense. However, the raw reality of what happened at the school continues to haunt those that were impacted. Spencer blazed away with rifle shots from her home directly across the street from the school. The schism between the friends had begun. History, Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Current one is: January 29. Thanks to the new Skylars Law, the procedures would happen differently. Skylar never got a chance to grow up, and she would always be the intelligent, lovely blue-eyed girl that he knew before she died. Asked for some explanation for the attack, Spencer allegedly said, I just dont like Mondays. The Spencer family made a concerted effort to keep the song off the air on this side of the pond, but it received fairly extensive airplay regardless. Blue was Brenda Spencer's favorite color, he later heard. Major Dabbs eventually resigned his commission in favor of medical school where he delivered 60 babies and occasionally wrung human blood out of his socks. Asked why he had done that, she answered, "He bought the rifle so I would kill myself. Where is Brenda Spencer now in 2021? She might secure - VoxBliss In the aftermath of the attack, it was revealed that Brenda Spencer had shot at the school one year earlier with a BB gun.

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