Brenda Ann Spencer

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Brenda Ann Spencer (1996)

Brenda Ann Spencer (* 3. April 1962 in San Diego , California ) is a US citizen , because of a Amoktat was convicted. On January 29, 1979, she shot dead two people and injured nine others outside Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. In the USA, after the Bath School Massacre in 1927 , this act is considered the first school shooting spree in recent times and went down in music history through the song I Don't Like Mondays .

Sequence of events

Brenda Ann Spencer was 16 years old at the time of her act. From 8:30 a.m., she shot from her bedroom window at the school opposite with a semi-automatic Ruger 10/22 rifle ( caliber .22 lfB ) that her father had given her shortly before at Christmas 1978. The headmaster Burton Wragg and the caretaker Mike Suchar were killed, eight students and one policeman were wounded.

During the shooting, she was called by a journalist who she gave as the reason for the crime: “I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day. ”(“ I don't like Mondays. That livenes up the day. ”) After more than six hours, she stopped the shooting and was arrested by a SWAT team. When she was arrested, she said to the police: “Nothing's happening today. I don't like Mondays. ”(“ Nothing happens today. I don't like Mondays. ”) During her interrogation, she said other similar things, such as“ There was no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun. "(" There was no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun. ")," It was just like shooting ducks in a pond. "(" It was like shooting ducks in a pond. ") And "The children looked like a herd of cows standing around, it was really easy pickings" ("The children looked like a herd of cows standing around and were really easy targets."). Spencer pleaded guilty in court and was sentenced to two sentences of 25 years to life imprisonment for double murder and assault with a lethal weapon .

Adhesion tests

In the previous detention tests in 1993, 2001, 2005 and most recently on August 13, 2009, when she stated that she had hoped to be shot during the shooting because previous suicide attempts had failed, a release was denied. In California, however, murderers are rarely released from prison.

At the second pardon in 2001, Spencer alleged that she was under the influence of alcohol and other drugs and had hallucinations at the time of the crime. She also spoke of a conspiracy: After she was arrested, she was given mind-altering drugs to confess to the crime. She was also sexually abused by her father. She also expressed doubts about her guilt and accused the police of shooting the victims. However, this statement contradicted her earlier statements. However, she also showed traces of remorse: “I know, saying that I am sorry doesn't undo it. I feel responsible for every school massacre. What if you got the idea from me? "

Others

The saying "I don't like Mondays" (I don't like Mondays), which underlined the baselessness of the massacre and attracted worldwide attention, inspired singer Bob Geldof of the Irish pop group The Boomtown Rats in 1979 to the band's biggest hit of the same name .

literature

  • Brian Lane, Wilfred Gregg: The Encyclopedia of Mass Murder . Caroll & Graf Publishers, New York 2004, p. 315.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A Minutes: The First Modern School Shooter Feels Responsible for the Rest at The Daily Beast from May 30, 2014, accessed on May 5, 2015 (English)
  2. ↑ "I know saying I'm sorry doesn't make it all right. With every school shooting, I feel I'm partially responsible. What if they got their idea from what I did?": "Parole denied in school shooting" in USA Today (English) of 19 June 2001, accessed on May 5, 2015
  3. ↑ I don't like Mondays on snopes.com (English)
  4. ↑ Pop songs and their background: I don't like Mondays ( Memento from May 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Spencer, Brenda Ann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American gunman
DATE OF BIRTH April 3, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH San Diego , California