Brenda Ann Spencer - 29th January 1979
Aged 16 at the time of the shooting,
Monday, January 29, 1979,
2025 is 46 years since the shooting
Spencer was charged as an adult and remanded in custody
She was 18 on April 3 1980
On April 4, 1980, a day after her 18th birthday, she was sentenced to 25 years to life
She has been denied parole four times
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
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.
She waited for the school to open, then at 8.30 am, began firing on the students who were arriving at the school.
For twenty minutes, Spencer fired 36 shots, killing the school principal and the school's caretaker, as well as wounding eight students, aged 6 to 12 and a San Diego police officer.
During the next six and a half hours, Brenda talked to the police and press, before finally surrendering.
Explaining why she had done what she did, she said:
"I just started shooting, that's it.
I just did it for the fun of it.
I just don't like Mondays....
I just did it because it's a way to cheer the day up.
Nobody likes Mondays."
She was tried as an adult, and pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, eight counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of assault on a peace officer and is serving two 25-to-life sentences.
Incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Chino, California. Spencer became eligible for parole in 1993, but was denied parole four times and will not be eligible again until 2025
