Charles Cam Miller sees the scar on his chest every day and remembers how, when he was 9, a bullet from Brenda Spencers .22 rifle pierced him from back to front. When queried concerning her motivations she said, I dont like Mondays. One negotiator remembers promising her a Burger King Whopper before she finally came outside. Katie Serena is a New York City-based writer and a staff writer at All That's Interesting. The teens attorneys considered pursuing an insanity plea, but it never came to fruition. For 20 minutes, Spencer continued to fire about 30 rounds into the crowd. It includes a memorial paid for by people in the community. Eight students ranging in age from 7 to 10. By the time Miller looked, he saw only her retreating back, a glimpse of her red hair. Twenty-two years later, his son, Dan Barnes, also a teacher, found himself a target of Granite Hills High School shooter Jason Hoffman. After her parents separated, she lived with her father, Wallace Spencer, in poverty. [31], The 1982 JapaneseAmerican documentary film The Killing of America depicts the incident. It took a few shots before students, parents, and school staff realized that someone on the opposite side of the road was using them as a target. Brenda Spencer was born April 3rd, 1962 to her mother and father, Dorothy and Wallace Spencer. [3] Geldof has later mentioned that, "[Spencer] wrote to me saying 'she was glad she'd done it because I'd made her famous,' which is not a good thing to live with. He was particularly struck by Spencer's claim that she did it because she did not like Mondays, and began writing a song about it, called "I Don't Like Mondays". Thanks again for the article, and please keep em coming! Brenda later said of the gift, I asked for a radio and he bought me a gunI felt like he wanted me to kill myself.. San Diego police officers Patty Bernathy and Ted Kasniak escort Brenda Spencer to homicide investigators after the shootings at Cleveland Elementary School in 1979. Age 16, she was 5'2" (157 cm) and had bright red hair. Cam Miller was wearing the down vest he had just gotten from Santa Claus. This livens up the day." Warning: file_get_contents(index.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /nfs/c05/h03/mnt/79130/domains/spitfirevsbf109.com/html/wp-includes/plugin . You learn to basically cope. [5], Further casualties were avoided only because the police obstructed her line of fire by moving a garbage truck in front of the school entrance. Since he/she cannot give back that which was stolen, he/she must do the next best thingthat is forfeit his/her own life. junio 16, 2022 . Other children in down coats were targeted, too, and Spencer later was quoted as saying she enjoyed seeing feathers fly as she shot them. [25] In the ensuing decades, it was leased to several charter and private schools. 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. Mike Guerrero, a financial accountant with National School District, worked for Suchar as a part-time janitor while studying at San Diego State University. [27] In 2018, the school was demolished to construct a housing development, and the plaque was relocated to the former school's southern edge, at the corner of Lake Atlin Avenue and Lake Angela Drive. She had been arrested for that crime, as well as burglary, but ultimately received probation. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. On Monday, January 29, 1979, a journalist from The San Diego Union-Tribune got the quote of a lifetime from 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer. It is actually a prison within a prison, within a prison. Nine counts of attempted murder were dismissed. It seems the woke western world cares more about the rights of criminals than the rights of victims and society. During this time, Spencer gave her infamous interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune over the phone. For Christmas 1978 her father, Wallace, had given her a .22 rifle as a present. The MSRP for the base model 10/22 today is $309. Just a few months after the BB gun incident, Spencers probation officer had suggested that she spend some time in a mental hospital for depression. She resembled Brenda. Murder, rapes, gang rapes, assaults, forced prostitution, etc, etc. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. "We just kind of went on with life," she says. Brenda Ann Spencer was born in San Diego, California, on April 3, 1962. I was so young I didnt really understand it. 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. Get our email alerts straight to your inbox. Brenda Spencer began shooting at 8:30. A previous version of this story failed to mention that custodian Michael Suchar, who was fatally shot, was survived by a son in addition to a wife, who was mentioned in the article. Now 72, Olson has kept his report notes from that day. "I think it's really sad all those kids are going to have to go through what I've gone through all my life," he says. Thanks for another well written, informative article. 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Brenda alleged that her father Wallace both beat and sexually abused her. Perhaps you should check out the first several verses in Romans, chapter 13. As a child, he suffered terrifying nightmares of Brenda Spencer "popping out of the bathtub to finish me off." Kasinak and Officer Patty Bernathy drove the teen to the homicide unit for questioning. This is the true story of Brenda Spencer and her deadly attack. 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. "Dad didn't want me to see a psychologist. 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. Later, Cam went with his parents to court. The principal and a custodian were killed; eight children and police officer Robert Robb were injured. [8], Spencer was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon. [4][5][6][7] After her parents separated, she allegedly lived in poverty with her father, Wallace Spencer. A KB developer sign notes homes available starting at $700,000. Though all eight of the children ultimately recovered, Wragg and Suchar were killed. The modular nature of the design lends itself to creativity. TIL In January 1979, 16 year old Brenda Ann Spencer was arrested after killing a principal and a custodian at an elementary school in California. Eventually, Spencer surrendered peacefully. Brenda's attorney said that the mother "became like a stone . Explaining the motive for her mass murder, Brenda said, Those I shot just made easy targets. Later, at parole hearings, Brenda was reminded of those statements and she said: Maybe I did. Now the incident is under review. He has parachuted out of perfectly good airplanes at 3 oclock in the morning and summited Mount McKinley, Alaska, six timesalways at the controls of an Army helicopter, which is the only way sensible folk climb mountains. Brenda Spencer was a young girl turned deadly killer. SWAT Officer Jim McGinley said he took up a sniper position on a neighbors roof, his rifle trained on the Spencer back door. The house I graduated high school from looked over at San Quentin State Prison. The report stated that she had clawed the words Pride and Courage into her flesh. Brenda Spencer was born on April 3, 1962 in San Diego, California, USA as Brenda Ann Spencer.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 . The justice of a murderer getting life, while their victims get death, is lost on me. Wallace Spencer was an enthusiastic gun collector, and his daughter appeared to share his interest in this hobby early on. She also wandered the neighborhood killing birds with a BB gun. Miraculously, none of the children were killed, though eight of them were injured. On April 4, 1980, a day after her 18th birthday, she was sentenced to 25 years to life. After her parents separated, she lived with her father, Wallace Spencer, in virtual poverty. Supervisors explore ways to offset vehicle traffic from new rural housing, Column: Padres offense inspires bright forecasts as Petco Parks worst clouds have lifted, Opinion: Converting Californias empty office buildings to apartments and condos is a great idea. Her parents were separated, and she lived in squalor with her alcoholic father, Wallace Spencer. However, her teachers reported that she fell asleep regularly in class. The 10/22 has been offered in .22LR, .17HMR, and .22 Win Mag variants. Whenever she drives past the hospital, Buell automatically looks for the same window on the second floor. "Oh, really?". The Union-Tribune regrets the error. She injured eight children and a police officer, and killed the principal and a custodian. Her father went on to marry Spencer's 17-year-old Juvenile Hall cellmate but they later divorced. Cam is 29 now, a strapping, dark-eyed man with scant resemblance to the fourth-grader with a bowl haircut whose picture appeared in the newspapers above the word "victim" so long ago. In the aftermath of the attack, it was revealed that Brenda Spencer had shot at the school one year earlier with a BB gun. She wrote to me saying she was glad shed done it because Id made her famous, Geldof said. Will Dabbs A native of the Mississippi Delta, Will is a mechanical engineer who flew UH1H, OH58A/C, CH47D, and AH1S aircraft as an Army Aviator. X27 ; 2 & quot ; ( 157 cm ) and had bright red hair a Officer... 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