Now 72, Olson has kept his report notes from that day. Haley Wragg said she decided to break the family silence by telling her grandfathers story on a video for Safe Kids, Inc., which develops school safety curricula and guides for parents. By the time Miller looked, he saw only her retreating back, a glimpse of her red hair. Brenda Spencer (born April 3, 1962) lived in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego, California in a house across the street from Grover Cleveland Elementary School in the San Diego Unified School District. What he found instead were children screaming, crying and bleeding on the ground as a teenage girl who lived across the street raked the schoolyard with bullets from her .22-caliber rifle. Two saplings planted in their memory took root in the bloodstained earth and have grown into trees now, sentries that stand tall and strong over an empty playground. Brenda's attorney said that the mother "became like a stone . One of those children was Miller, who believes Spencer targeted him that morning because he was wearing a down vest in her favorite color: blue. 104K views 3 years ago On January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer opened fired from her home across the street from Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. "[11], On the morning of Monday, January 29, 1979, Spencer began shooting from her house[12] at children waiting for 53-year-old Principal Burton Wragg to open the gates to Grover Cleveland Elementary. As the children lined up outside of the gates, Spencer took out the .22 semiautomatic rifle that shed received as a Christmas gift from her father. This livens up the day.. The janitor used to give me erasers. A 7-year-old girl led him around a corner to a teacher. In 2005 Brendas prison girlfriend was released and she was reported for an incident of self-harm. He wore T-shirts when swimming to cover his scar. On that January day, she woke up, took the gun and, just as the school bell rang to signal the beginning of the classes, Brenda began shooting from her window at the young students who were standing outside the school. She was sentenced to 25 years to life on the day after her 18thbirthday. "It was frightening. Not long after Brenda Spencer went to jail, her father married his daughter's teenage cellmate. [5][7] Spencer later said, "I asked for a radio and got a rifle." In reality its far more violent and brutal than your imagination or a TV documentary could ever possibly depict. The principal of the school, Burton Wragg, was killed during the attack. Blue was Brenda Spencer's favorite color, he later heard. The Cleveland Elementary School shooting was a school shooting that took place on January 29, 1979, at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California, United States. He noted that Spencer shot people 150 feet away with deadly accuracy, not as one under the influence of drugs or alcohol. According to theNew York Daily News, when the police located her home they gave the phone number to a local reporter who called her and asked her if she had any idea where the shots in her neighborhood were coming from. On January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer killed two people and wounded nine when she fired on San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary School with a .22-caliber rifle from her family's house across the street. She actually said, It was a lot of fun seeing children shot. She also explained that it was her intent to leave the house guns ablazing. Standing 52 tall and weighing 89 pounds, Brenda Spencer was once described as too small to be scary., true stories behind Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. A tiny brass plaque by the flagpole commemorates the principal and custodian who died trying to rescue fallen children and herd the others to safety that day. Therefore, the murderer must be held fully accountable. House where Brenda Ann Spencer fired the shots at the Cleveland Elementary shooting. A plaque and flagpole were erected at Cleveland Elementary in memory of the shooting victims. At her 2016 parole eligibility hearing, she cried frequently demonstrating emotional instability, Sachs said. I have always hoped that at least us Americans would have the wisdom to forgo our partisan prejudices and vote-in officials that value the rule of law and do their duty to protect law abiding citizens. Its a very dark subject, Geldof said in an interview, adding that some listeners assume the song is just about having a hangover and not wanting to go to work. Brenda Ann Spencer. He wishes he had. The next victim was the schools custodian, who also attempted to bring the children to safety. Based on the pen I was at. He bizarrely married Brendas 17-year-old prison cellmate after her release, and they had a daughter together. The following psychiatric evaluation suggested that she be placed in a hospital, but her father didnt permit it and, even worse, he gave her a Ruger 10/22 .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle for Christmas. Related Tags: Because the process (accountability, repentance, and restitution) requires it. They said they had a green light to kill Spencer if they had an opportunity. Eight students ranging in age from 7 to 10. Spencer shot and killed Wragg as he and teacher Daryl Barnes tried to help children. The standard Ruger 10/22 features a blued finish and walnut stock, though there are plenty of factory options available. She wrote him a letter in 2015, thanking him for his criminal defense work and noting, what I did was horrible so I dont really complain about the amount of time Ive done.. She resembled Brenda. San Diego Union-Tribune/Wikimedia Commons (cropped)The arrest of school shooter Brenda Spencer, shortly after her infamous I dont like Mondays quote. She injured eight children and a police officer, and killed the principal and a custodian. At age fifteen she was arrested for shooting out the windows in the school with her air rifle as well as burglary. In addition to the capacity to carry a child to term, one of the two genders is just a bit more innately rotten than the other. "It brings back memories," he acknowledges, "but as time goes on, you heal. The school was sold and leveled, and new housing was built on the 9-acre site. She fired 36 rounds. That all changed on January 29, 1979. Spencer was a predictably poor student with truancy issues, but she had a talent for photography. The police officer who arrived at the incident was shot in the neck. CAPTION: Brenda Spencer said she opened fire at the school because "I hate Mondays.". Dad set the direction, and I took the path. On Monday morning, January 29, 1979, a herd of children had gathered outside the gates of the elementary school. Police set up 10 community meetings all slated next week for feedback on proposal to let them run hundreds of overhead cameras and add license readers, The crash was reported around 6:40 a.m. on south I-5 south of Gilman Drive in the La Jolla area; firefighters extricated the man from the overturned vehicle. She ultimately left the house peacefully in exchange for a meal from Burger King. She spent 42 days in the hospital and underwent two operations that left a foot-long scar across her stomach. Robb was awarded a medal of valor for rushing forward to try to save those who had been shot. [19] In 2005, a San Diego deputy district attorney cited an incident of self-harm from four years earlier when Spencer's girlfriend was released from jail, as showing that Spencer was psychotic and unfit to be released. Miraculously, none of the children were killed, though eight of them were injured. Reportedly, Brenda later said that she asked for a radio instead but he insisted on a gun as a present. Why do you think you should deserve a second chance when the principal and the custodian had none? As with any mass shooting, Spencers sniper assault on the elementary school changed the lives of the widows, the wounded, their families and a community. [16] Crime-scene photos contradict these accounts. She claimed she wasnt trying to kill anybody, she was just shooting, he said. Unfortunately, thats exactly what happened. Then, she put the rifle down, barricaded herself inside her home, and waited. That shooting probably affected every person on that campus, Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social work and education, said of the San Carlos shooting. He drove it into the parking lot to serve as a shield while officers and school staff removed the wounded. Eventually, Brenda grew peckish. . In fact many inmates attempted suicide to escape the situation. They need to talk about their fears, he says. The morning was unusually cold, they still remember. The school was closed in 1983, along with a dozen other schools around the city, due to declining enrollment. What on that day had been unimaginable -- that a school could become a killing field -- is grimly familiar. Spencer, then 16, armed with the rifle and scope her father gave her for Christmas, started picking off students heading to the elementary school directly across the street from her Lake Atlin Avenue home. We talk about it all the time. The song was number 1 for four weeks in the UK, though it did not break the top 40 in the US. The reason for her fate has less to do with her troubled life and more to do with her troubled genetics. In junior high, a neighbor went around telling people, `There's Cam, he's shot,' and I'd deny it." The ruling was a reversal of the ruling two years ago by a different California parole board that voted to release Sirhan Sirhan. Why do we continue to house and feed these animals. At least once a night, he remembers, he would wake his mother and have her walk him around the house, to the back where there was a wall of windows. According to History, they were waiting for their principal to open up the schools gates. Aged 16 at the time of the shooting, she was 5'2" (157cm) and had bright red hair. I dont really remember. She was tried as an adult and pleaded guilty. By in linseneintopf mit kartoffeln in linseneintopf mit kartoffeln Under the terms of her sentencing, Spencer became eligible for hearings to consider her suitability for parole in 1993. Though she damaged the windows, she didnt hurt anyone that time around. Today, Cam Miller is a probation officer who still feels nervous around guns, leaving the room even if it's just a friend showing off a new hunting rifle. She keeps a scrapbook of newspaper articles and photos, and still has the jacket she wore that day stashed away somewhere. Although it did not make the Top 40 in the U.S., it still received extensive radio airplay (outside of the San Diego area) despite the Spencer family's efforts to prevent it. The two victims were Principal Burton Wragg and custodian . cattaraugus county pistol permit office phone number; louisiana state penitentiary warden; rochelle park police blotter; phillips smith and dunn houses for sale in braunton brenda spencer father, wallacetraffic signal warrant analysis example. On January 29, 1979, in San Diego, California, 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who lived just across the road from the Cleveland Elementary School, opened fire on the students and school personnel with a .22-caliber rifle. Official website of the comedian, television host, talking head, commentator, speaker, and word-haver. She wrote to me saying she was glad shed done it because Id made her famous, Geldof said. She was the most seriously hurt of the children shot, hit in the abdomen and buttocks; part of her intestine was removed and she had a colostomy bag for four months. I may not have grown up with a grandpa, but many children grew up to have their own families.. She was given an indefinite sentence and remains in prison. In the 19th century, shed have been hanged and buried in an unmarked grave!! [18] Early reports indicated that Spencer had scratched the words "courage" and "pride" into her own skin; Spencer corrected this during her parole hearing as reading "unforgiven" and "alone". McGlinn believes Spencer's accounts that her divorced father, Wallace Spencer, sexually abused her and that under his influence she began dressing as a boy and learned to hunt and shoot with him. However, in 2005, Brenda claimed her father was to blame, stating he had drunkenly kicked her in the head when she was fourteen and that she was forced to make up the 'bicycle story.' Wallace Spencer, later married his daughter's former cellmate, a 17-year-old girl named Sheila McCoy, whom he met while visiting Brenda in prison. Stunned by the tragic shooting, Bob Geldof, the lead singer of the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, wrote a song titled I Dont Like Mondays. Released just months after the attack, the tune topped the U.K. charts for four weeks, and it also received extensive airtime in the U.S. And according to The Advertiser, the song did not go unnoticed by Spencer. A responding police officer was also wounded. She grew up relatively poor and spent most of her early life with her father, Wallace Spencer, with whom she had a turbulent relationship. [15] Ultimately, she surrendered and left the house, reportedly after being promised a Burger King meal by negotiators. When asked why she did it, her reply was "I just don't like Mondays." . Other children in down coats were targeted, too, and Spencer later was quoted as saying she enjoyed seeing feathers fly as she shot them. ". He could see Wallace through the screen door, sitting in front of the TV. After her parents separated, she lived with her father, Wallace Spencer, in poverty. The bullet struck Cam in the back and exited his chest, missing any internal organs. For 20 minutes, Spencer continued to fire about 30 rounds into the crowd. I lay in the cafeteria it seemed like forever, with a bullet entry wound in his back and a chest exit would, Miller said. She started her killing spree to 'liven up the day.' Spencer's murderous rampage might have claimed more victims had the police not obstructed her line of fire using a garbage truck. A quick pain subsided as she was rushed into the cafeteria, to safety. Prison should be reserved for those guilty of minor or first time felonies, where there is a chance of rehabilitation. [14], After firing thirty-six times,[12] Spencer barricaded herself inside her home for several hours. Charles "Cam" Miller, age 9 was shot. The developer installed a memorial, now at the corner of Lake Atlin and Lake Angela streets, to Wragg and Suchar. The Baffling Disappearance Of Jodi Huisentruit, The News Anchor Who Vanished Forever Just Before A Broadcast, The Disappearance Of Kristal Reisinger, The Colorado Mother Who Went Missing From A Drum Circle, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Which is not a good thing to live with., CBS 8 San Diego/YouTubeIn 1993, Brenda Spencer told CBS 8 San Diego that she didnt remember saying, I dont like Mondays.. He still has occasional nightmares about Spencer. What she did was so awful, shooting at children. 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