The infamous 'I Don't Like Mondays' school shooter is up for parole 40 years after opening fire on Grover Cleveland Elementary in San Diego
BRENDA Spencer, the "I Don't Like Mondays" school shooter, has been caged for 40 years since killing two people and wounding nine - aged just 16.
Now eligible for parole, is she being released from prison? We explain the latest developments.
Brenda Spencer, aged 16, fired rifle shots into a school playground in California in January 1979, killing the head teacher and caretaker and wounding eight children and a police officer.
The teen opened fire on Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Carlos, San Diego.
The shocking incident marked the first high profile mass school shooting in the US.
According to the San Diego Police Museum, Spencer took an early liking to guns and to stories about violence.
Her Dad, Wallace Spencer, gave her a semi-automatic .22 calibre rifle for Christmas in 1978.
Classmates alleged that, the week before Spencer targeted kids in the playground, she boasted she was planning to "do something big to get on TV".
She started her shooting rampage from her bedroom window, randomly aiming her gun at kids who were waiting to enter the playground.
Her 20-minute shooting spree claimed the lives of the school's principal, Burton Wragg, 53, who was struck while trying to help wounded kids, and caretaker Mike Suchar, 56, who attempted to rescue his boss.
Countless lives were saved as officers commandeered a rubbish truck to use as a shield to drive in the line of fire to rescue the children.
However, the entire siege lasted seven hours, as Spencer barricaded herself inside her home, and threatened to "come out shooting".
She told cops that she targeted kids and school staff as they were easy targets.
Despite being a teenager, she was tried as an adult, because of the seriousness of her crime.
Spencer pleaded guilty to two murders, and assault with a deadly weapon.
Spared the death penalty because of her young age, she was instead sentenced to 25 years to life on April 4, 1980, when aged 18.
Spencer, now aged 56, is currently serving time at the California Institution for Women in Corona.
Although she's previously been eligible for parole, Spencer was denied four times, including on August 13, 2009, and is not eligible again until this year - 40 years after the shooting.
According to Mail Online, several lawyers believe she will be granted her wish, and be paroled, as they don't believe she will reoffend.
However, in previous parole hearings, there has been powerful testimony from those whose lives have never been the same since that horrific morning.
Since 2009, there have been 288 school shootings in America.
Newspaper reporter Gus Stevens, who called Spencer's neighbours for quotes during the lengthy standoff with cops, accidentally phoned her home.
Upon realising he was speaking to the shooter, he asked what her motive was.
The brutal killer coldly replied: "I just did it for the fun of it. I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day.
"I have to go now. I shot a pig (cop) I think and I want to shoot more.
"I'm having too much fun [to surrender]... it was just like shooting ducks in a pond.
"They [the kids] looked like a herd of cows standing around; it was really easy pickings."
This inspired the Boomtown Rats to write the smash hit I Don't Like Mondays.
Legendary Irish rocker Bob Geldof described how he felt as the news broke on the sad day.
The singer had been doing a radio interview, when the news was wired through.
Geldof later explained: "Not liking Mondays as a reason for doing somebody in is a bit strange.
"I was thinking about it on the way back to the hotel and I just said 'Silicon chip inside her head had switched to overload'.
"I wrote that down. And the journalists interviewing her said, 'Tell me why?' It was such a senseless act.
"It was the perfect senseless act and this was the perfect senseless reason for doing it. So perhaps I wrote the perfect senseless song to illustrate it.
"It wasn't an attempt to exploit tragedy."
The Boomtown Rats performed the song - that went on to become their biggest hit - about a month later.
Geldof was later sued by a former bandmate, keyboard player Johnnie Fingers, who claimed that he wrote the music and some of the lyrics.
This year, Channel 4 reported that the stars have reached a financial settlement out of court, and Fingers' musical contribution to the song has been recognised.
