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.
The principal and a custodian were killed; eight children and police officer Robert Robb were injured.
A 16-year-old girl, Brenda Spencer, who lived in a house across the street from the school, was convicted of the shootings.
Charged as an adult, she pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 25 years.
A reporter reached Spencer by phone while she was still in the house after the shooting, and asked her why she committed the crime.
She reportedly answered: "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day"
Brenda Ann Spencer
she lived in a house across the street from the school.
Aged 16 at the time of the shooting, she was 5'2" (157 cm) and had bright red hair.
After her parents separated, she allegedly lived in poverty with her father, Wallace Spencer.
Both father and daughter slept on a single mattress on the living room floor in a house strewn with empty bottles from alcoholic drinks
Acquaintances said Spencer expressed hostility toward policemen, had spoken about shooting one, and had talked of doing something big to get on television
She attended Patrick Henry High School, where one teacher recalled frequently inquiring if she was awake in class.
Later, during tests while she was in custody, it was discovered Spencer had an injury to the temporal lobe of her brain. It was attributed to an accident on her bicycle
For Christmas 1978, he gave her a Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle with a telescopic sight and 500 rounds of ammunition.
Spencer later said, "I asked for a radio and got a rifle."
Asked why he had done that, she answered, "He bought the rifle so I would kill myself."
On the morning of Monday, January 29, 1979, Spencer began shooting from her house at children waiting for 53-year-old Principal Burton Wragg to open the gates to Grover Cleveland Elementary.
She injured eight children; she began with nine-year-old Cam Miller, since he was wearing Spencer's favorite color blue. Spencer shot and killed Wragg as he and teacher Daryl Barnes tried to help children. She also killed 56-year-old custodian Mike Suchar as he tried to pull a student to safety.A 28-year-old police officer, Robert Robb, had responded to a call for assistance during the incident, where he was wounded in the neck as he arrived.
Further casualties were avoided only because the police obstructed her line of fire by moving a garbage truck in front of the school entrance.
After firing thirty-six times, Spencer barricaded herself inside her home for several hours. 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. Spencer told the reporter she had shot at the school children and adults because, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day."
She also told police negotiators the children and adults whom she had shot were easy targets and that she was going to "come out shooting". Spencer has been repeatedly reminded of these statements at parole hearings.
Ultimately, she surrendered and left the house, reportedly after being promised a Burger King meal by negotiators.Police officers found beer and whiskey bottles cluttered around the house but said Spencer did not appear to be intoxicated when arrested. Crime-scene photos contradict these accounts
Spencer was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
On April 4, 1980, a day after her 18th birthday, she was sentenced to 25 years to life
She remains imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Chino.
Her next opportunity for a parole hearing will be in 2025
She will be aged 63 and will have spent 46 years of her life in prison
