Brenda's father Wallace Spencer remarried shortly after the shootings to a young girl who was Brenda's cellmate whilst she was being held at juvenile hall. They still live in the same house. 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. In 20 minutes she had shot: Principal Burton Wragg. Stahl said her mother, Penny Wragg, never got the right help dealing with the murder of her father at the school. That summer, Spencer, who was known to hunt birds in the neighborhood, was arrested for shooting out the windows of Grover Cleveland Elementary with a BB gun and for burglary. Police escorted them to buses to be united with parents at Pershing Middle School. Her older brother helped her over a fear of guns by taking her out shooting jackrabbits when she was 11. The Union-Tribune regrets the error. Origins . [1][10], In December, a psychiatric evaluation arranged by her probation officer recommended that Spencer be admitted to a mental hospital for depression, but her father refused to give permission. In 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer shot up an elementary - reddit TIL In January 1979, 16 year old Brenda Ann Spencer was - reddit Born in San Diego, Spencer purportedly took an early liking to guns and also to stories that contained violence. . . Reportedly, Brenda later said that she asked for a radio instead but he insisted on a gun as a present. [15] Ultimately, she surrendered and left the house, reportedly after being promised a Burger King meal by negotiators. Her Dad, Wallace Spencer, gave her a semi-automatic .22 calibre rifle for Christmas in 1978. ", Buell was jolted by the casual reference, but managed to muster a benign response. Brenda-Spencer - San Diego Police Historical Association Head Custodian Mike Suchar. 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.. A 16-year-old girl, Brenda Spencer, who lived in a house across the street from the school, was convicted of the shootings. 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. I stopped following Brendas parole hearings 25 years ago. After she came out of her zombie state (in prison) I didnt perceive her as a danger. He always talked about that blood stain on the principals shirt.. The Union-Tribune regrets the error. 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 . I held it in. Eight students ranging in age from 7 to 10. Cam Miller was wearing the down vest he had just gotten from Santa Claus. On April 4, 1980, a day after her 18th birthday, she was sentenced to 25 years to life. [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. It's that time of year again when gardeners all over the world are planning what to grow in their gardens. He and his wife drove the hour and a half through the desert to the California Institution for Women, arriving much too early. Not long after Brenda Spencer went to jail, her father married his daughter's teenage cellmate. 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. I felt like he wanted me to kill myself., Bettmann/Contributor/Getty ImagesStanding 52 tall and weighing 89 pounds, Brenda Spencer was once described as too small to be scary.. Her statement inspired the musician Bob Geldof to compose the song I Dont Like Mondays for his band, Boomtown Rats. [5][7] Spencer later said, "I asked for a radio and got a rifle." She reportedly answered: "I don't like Mondays. 40 years ago, Brenda Spencer took lives, changed lives in a mass 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 5'2" and sported bright red hair. She resembled Brenda.. They have a child together who was enrolled in Cleveland Elementary. The developer installed a memorial, now at the corner of Lake Atlin and Lake Angela streets, to Wragg and Suchar. Brenda Spencer's parents unsuccessfully tried to get the song banned in America. Fundraiser by Brenda Cook : Funeral Expenses for Frances Brenda Spencer: The Genesis Monster - GunsAmerica Digest I asked for a radio, and he bought me a gun, Brenda Ann Spencer later said. Brenda and her father slept on a single mattress in their living room, empty alcohol bottles scattered around the floor. 1978- December 25-Brenda Spencer's father, Wallace Spencer, gave Brenda a .22 caliber rifle as a Christmas present. Kasinak and Officer Patty Bernathy drove the teen to the homicide unit for questioning. 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. They had one mattress that both Brenda and her Father would sleep on and the house was trashed with beer cans. Eight of the children were seriously wounded. Brenda Spencer. Monika Selvig was shot. [8], Spencer was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Privacy PolicyTerms of ServiceSign Up For Our NewslettersSite Map, Copyright 2023, The San Diego Union-Tribune |, KB homes were built on the former site of Cleveland Elementary School in San Carlos. Brenda Ann SPENCER Homicide Juvenile - School shooting 2 January 29, 1979 Same day April 3, 1962 Principal Burton Wragg, 53 and Michael Suchar, 56 Shooting San Diego, California, USA photo gallery The two victims were Principal Burton Wragg and custodian Mike Suchar. It was attributed to an accident on her bicycle. Head Custodian Mike Suchar. I can still hear it. Spencer claimed her violent tendencies were a result of being sexually molested by her father, Wallace Spencer. . She remembers how her dad used to walk her slowly through the hospital corridors, and how they would stand in a breezeway and watch the lights of passing cars on the freeway below. She keeps a scrapbook of newspaper articles and photos, and still has the jacket she wore that day stashed away somewhere. Cam would insist on touching each pane of glass, to assure himself that none was broken, that "she" hadn't slipped inside. 1978- December 25 - Brenda Spencer's father, Wallace Spencer, gave Brenda a .22 caliber rifle as a Christmas present. He was previously married to Dot Spencer. Spencer eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, where California law forbids her to grant interviews. Christy Buell never left the old neighborhood, still living in her childhood home just a few blocks from the school, and from the ranch-style house where Brenda Spencer's father still lives. Other children lay bleeding on the stage. 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. by Michael Thomas Barry. Both have since died, and two surviving sons dont like to speak publicly about it, family members said. Neighbors claimed Spencer had a history of petty theft, drug abuse, and truancy. She is said to have self-identified as "having been gay from birth." Asked why he had done that, she answered, "He bought the rifle so I would kill myself. It's a claim the man adamantly denied. Her father went on to marry Spencers 17-year-old Juvenile Hall cellmate but they later divorced. She lived in perpetual squalor in a house in San Carlos, California, with her alcoholic father, Wallace, after her parents separated. And how come she hasn't brought charges against her Dad for rape?!? 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. Her father, Wallace Spencer, still lives here. He was in the process of moving to a new house when the Colorado school massacre happened Tuesday. Brenda Spencer was born April 3rd, 1962 to her mother and father, Dorothy and Wallace Spencer. The bullet struck Cam in the back and exited his chest, missing internal organs but leaving scar tissue that still hurts two decades later if he stretches the wrong way or lifts weights. Waking on the single mattress she shared with her father in the living room of their squalid suburban California home, Brenda Spencer remembers starting that day by taking her epilepsy medicine, washed down with whisky. St George Island 14 Day Forecast, Wallace passed away on Thursday, February 11, 2016. He just said we'll deal with it as a family. [4][5][6][7] After her parents separated, she allegedly lived in poverty with her father, Wallace Spencer. Charles "Cam" Miller, age 9 was shot. Can I Get A Tattoo After Rhinoplasty, According to police reports and her classmates descriptions, Brenda was an introvert, often behaving strangely. Spencers former attorney, Michael McGlinn, who has represented juvenile offenders for decades, believes his former client didnt know what she was doing and no longer poses a threat to society. She resembled Brenda, Christy noticed. - 1972) (divorced) (3 children) Trivia (1) Father of Brenda Spencer. Brenda Spencer - Biography - IMDb Twin Creeks Golf Membership Cost, Because there was no trial, few details about her family or her past ever came to public light. Wallace Spencer - IMDb Funeral Expenses for Frances. He had wanted to confront her, finally. She hurt so many people and had so much to do with starting a deadly trend in America, said Richard Sachs, a San Diego County deputy district attorney, in an interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune. Brenda's father Wallace Spencer remarried shortly after the shootings to a young girl who was Brenda's cellmate whilst she was being held at juvenile hall. Her father still lives in the house where the shooting took place. [14], After firing thirty-six times,[12] Spencer barricaded herself inside her home for several hours. 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.