“Ugh, it’s Monday” are the words that usually follow the arrival of the most dreaded day of the week. The sighs floating in the air are palpable and nothing seems possible. Mondays always carry with them a negative connotation and contain components such as depression, fatigue, and anguish. But to a San Diego elementary school, and to a troubled sixteen year old, Monday, January 29, 1979 held an even more distressing meaning.
Students at Grover Cleveland Elementary School, located in San Diego, California, began what they believed would be a normal Monday morning like any other, with bells ringing and students racing to their classes. Little did they know, however, that across the street, sixteen-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer was aiming her .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle right at society’s ultimate refuge, the elementary school, and its surroundings. After the first bell rang, Brenda broke the panels on the front door of her home, which was located right across the street from the elementary school. And she began to fire. The school’s principal, Burton Wragg, while rushing outside, was hit on the shoulder and chest with Spencer’s bullets and eventually died. Michael Suchar, the school’s custodian, ran outside with a blanket in order to cover Wragg and keep him from going into shock, but he quickly became the second victim of Spencer’s shooting and lost his life. In between all the chaos, 28 year old Robert Robb, a recent graduate of the police academy, while examining Wragg’s and Suchar’s bodies, was shot under his right shoulder blade.1 He would go on to survive though, along with the eight other children who were wounded in the incident. At least three of those children had abdominal wounds. A nine-year-old student, Cam Miller, was struck in the back with a bullet that exited through his chest without hitting any internal organs. Another, Christy Buell, was shot through her abdomen and in the buttocks, and had to undergo surgery in order to repair her intestine.2
When Gus Stevens, a reporter for the San Diego Evening Tribune, began calling around the area to gain more information about the shooting, he coincidentally placed a call to Spencer’s home where she gave him exactly what he wanted. She described the shooter, a sixteen year old, and the shooter’s address. When Stevens realized that she gave him her own address, he recognized what was going on and requested an interview while another staff member informed the police of the situation. The police, now aware of where the shots were coming from, were able evacuate the children and obstruct Spencer’s line of sight while trying to negotiate with her. After several hours, Brenda Spencer surrendered her weapon and several rounds of ammunition, and was subsequently arrested. While on the phone with Stevens, Spencer had stated that she was just shooting for the “fun of it.” She went on to say that she just didn’t like Mondays and did this “because it’s a way to cheer up the day.”3
Contrary to her initial claim, she later went on to state in her 2001 parole hearing that she had been “sexually abused by [her] father” and was “waiting for the cops to show up so they could shoot [her].”4 This new information has fueled many more theories today about Brenda Spencer’s true motives in committing such a crime. During her pretrial psychological testing, an injury to Spencer’s temporal lobe came to light. Spencer has also stated in a letter from prison that she experiences “grand mal seizures” that she has to counteract with medications.5 Such a brain injury would definitely be a precursor to epilepsy, which is two to four times more common among violent offenders than the public.6 The lack of treatment she received for this disease, to some, proves the neglect that she experienced from her family and in her childhood. Psychologist Jonathan Fast introduces the idea that her brain injury, abuse, and the effects of it pushed her to her final actions. He believes that the shame, ridicule, inferiority, and powerlessness that she felt encouraged her to go as far as she did. In another letter she wrote in prison, she stated that her “father had done everything a person could do to another person. The beatings, the touching, the emotional abuse.” She went on to state that no one, not teachers or counselors, gave her assistance through this, so she simply thought that this was how the world and how life worked. When her father gifted her the .22 caliber rifle, she thought that he was finally telling her to do it: to take her life successfully, unlike her past suicide attempts, and leave the world forever.7
Whether these theories are true or not, Brenda Spencer was tried as an adult and pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and nine counts of assault. She was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison, and is still serving her sentence at the California Institute for Women. The shooting has inspired a song by the Boomtown Rats called “I Don’t Like Mondays,” and has also gained other media coverage through a documentary.8 Her action went down in history as the first high profile school shooting and has become a vanguard to many future, unimaginable school situations and violent outbreaks. Whether Spencer was a cold-hearted killer or a truly lost and confused soul that simply wanted an escape, it is undeniable that her horrible actions have had some frightening consequences in our modern world.
- Jonathan Fast, Ceremonial Violence (New York: The Overlook Press, 2008), 25, 70-71. ↵
- Tamara Jones, “Look Back in Sorrow,” Good Housekeeping 227, no.5 (November 1998): 118. ↵
- Jonathan Fast, “Unforgiven and Alone: Brenda Spencer and Secret Shame,” in School Shootings: International Research, Case Studies, And Concepts For Prevention, ed. Nils Böckler (New York: Springer, 2013), 253-255. ↵
- Debra Sevey, “Subsequent Parole Consideration Hearing of Brenda Spencer,” (Capitol Electronic Reporting, 2001), 15-16. ↵
- Jennifer Furio, Letters From Prison: Voices Of Women Murderers (New York: Algora Pub., 2001), 134. ↵
- Jonathan Fast, ” Unforgiven and Alone: Brenda Spencer and Secret Shame,” in School Shootings: International Research, Case Studies, And Concepts For Prevention, ed. Nils Böckler (New York: Springer, 2013), 251. ↵
- Jennifer Furio, Letters From Prison: Voices Of Women Murderers (New York: Algora Pub., 2001), 134-135. ↵
- Encyclopedia of School Crime and Violence, September 2011, s.v. “Brenda Spencer,” by Laura L. Finley. ↵
243 comments
Mariah Garcia
Up to this point, I wasn’t aware of this school tragedy and of who Brenda Spencer was. Though is it sad to read how her life had so many personal issues, there is no reason to target innocent lives. She must have had this idea for some time and I was appalled to read her reasoning for the shooting. This wasn’t the first school shooting (though it was a high profile school shooting) and it wouldn’t be the last. I just hope school shootings diminish, there will no longer be grief for families who lose loved ones, and trauma for survivors.
Ariana Melendez
Although I have heard of multiple school shootings, I was unaware of this massacre against elementary students. This article gave all the necessary details and more of Spencer’s own perception, which is always interesting to know. However, Spencer’s intentions are unclear to me. I wonder why she aimed for the elementary school, rather than the people who actually contributed to her downfall, such as her father. Nonetheless, the article does state facts when it says that the Cleveland school shooting went down in history and would correlate with future shootings.
Martina Rodriguez
The line about elementary school being “society’s ultimate refuge” set the tone of this article. Very chilling to know that Spencer hadn’t even left her home to conduct such a massacre. Beyond creepy that she gave the reporter her own address, I can only imagine the chills he must have felt when he realized he was talking with the shooter. While it doesn’t excuse what she did, it is heartbreaking the abuse at the hands of her father that she endured.
Avery Looney
I had never heard about this shooting prior to this article. I will never understand why people will go out of their way to cause harm to others. I have become so tired of hearing people make excuses for the reasons that they do things. In this case Brenda Spencer blames the reason she became violent on her father and teachers who didn’t help her. When will people begin to own up to what they have done? This has also occurred with other school shootings. The shooter will claim that other individuals caused them to do it, when ultimately it was only them who pulled the trigger.
Christopher Hohman
Nice article. Wow there are certainly better ways of dealing with Monday Blues than that. Still if it is true that she suffered abuse in childhood then I feel bad for her. it does not excuse what she did, but maybe if she had a better life and a family that cared for her things would have been different. Still she did shoot up a school and kill people. there is nothing that can be said that excuse that at all.
Damian Jennings
A reoccurring theme has presented itself after reading a second article on school shootings. Brenda Ann Spencer had been emotionally and physically abused by her father, her mental health was not in good condition. This young girl was mistreated by her father according to her testimony, he influenced her actions by beating her, verbally assaulting her, and gifting her with a .22 caliber weapon, as a hint to end her life. But instead she took her frustration and anger out on Grover Cleveland Elementary School. She performed this shooting from her house, pointing and shooting at anyone who came into her line of sight. I believe mental health is the most under looked form of disorder and it is something we should look to improve, those who need help should not shy away from it.
Brianna Ford
I remember reading an article about this event, and it is so tragic with what happened. This article went into great detail about the victims. For example, when he explained what happened to the principle and the custodian, so sad that they lost their lives. As well as the victims, especially the child that had to have surgery to fix his intestines. Although she blamed her abusive father for reasoning of the shooting, that still did not give her a right to take other innocent people’s lives.
Alexandra Lujan
I never heard about the Cleveland school shooting or about Brenda, and it’s terrible how Brenda did all this for “fun” and it was a way to “cheer up the day” , and it’s so sad that causing a shooting was a way of making the day less boring for her and hurting people and she claimed the did it because nobody helped her, violence is never the answer.
Diego Aguilera
I really enjoyed this article and the imagery used by the author. Crazy to think that all this was done for “fun” and because she didn’t like Mondays. Its truly sad that we see school shootings being something common. Stuff like this can’t happen and we the people have to see the signs and help the ones that need it. This girl had problems in her life but no one was there for her. This seems to be a relevant thing with these school shootings and they need to be stopped.
Julia Deais
I have not heard of this specific shooting prior to reading this article. I just never understood how people think that taking lives would solve their problems. If anything it just creates more problems for themselves and others. I was aggravated when Brenda claimed that she was doing it for fun and to make the Monday better. Guns and shooting is never the answer. Many people will be forever in great grief knowing that their loved ones passed away or were injured by this traumatic event.