Mass murderer who 'didn't like Mondays' up for parole 40 years afters school shooting
One of the United States’ most notorious mass shooters will be eligible for parole this year, after serving 40 years behind bars.
Brenda Ann Spencer opened fire on Grover Cleveland Elementary School at 8.30am on the morning of January 29, 1979, shooting eight children and three adults in a 20-minute killing spree which ended up killing the school’s principal, Burton Wragg, and the caretaker, Mike Suchar.
The gun-woman, who lived with epilepsy, was just 16 at the time and was living in poverty with her father following his separation with her mother.
Spencer’s shooting became particularly notorious for inspiring Bob Geldof, lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, to write I Don’t Like Mondays.
In a tense six-hour standoff with police prior to her being arrested, an officer called and asked what her motive was, to which she replied, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.”
Eventually, officers persuaded her from the flat using a Burger King meal as incentive.
The young killer was spared the death penalty because of her age and was sentenced to two terms of 25 years to life in prison, concurrently and with the chance of parole.
Spencer, who says she was “gay from birth” is now 56 and being held at the California Institution for Women, however, lawyers involved in her case say she may soon succeed in an application for parole, according to Daily Mail.
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