Skip to content
Narrow screen resolution Wide screen resolution Auto adjust screen size Increase font size Decrease font size Default font size blue color orange color green color

The DeMark Family Website | www.thedemarks.com

Home arrow Today in History

Event date: January 29, 1979  

Today in History

Deadly school shooting in San Diego

Brenda Spencer kills two men and wounds nine children as they enter the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. Spencer blazed away with rifle shots from her home directly across the street from the school. After 20 minutes of shooting, police surrounded Spencer's home for six hours before she surrendered. Asked for some explanation for the attack, Spencer allegedly said, "I just don't like Mondays. I did this because it's a way to cheer up the day. Nobody likes Mondays."

Spencer was only 16 years old at the time of her murderous attack. She was a problem child who was widely known as a drug abuser with a violent streak. She repeatedly broke the windows at the Cleveland school with her BB gun. Still, her father gave her a .22 semi-automatic rifle and ammunition as a Christmas gift at the end of 1978.

This seemed to inspire Spencer into more grandiose plans, and she started telling her classmates that she was going to do something "to get on TV." When Monday morning rolled around, Burton Wragg, the principal of Cleveland Elementary, was opening the gates of the school when Spencer started firing her rifle from across the street. Wragg and custodian Michael Suchar were killed. "I just started shooting. That's it. I just did it for the fun of it," explained Spencer.

Spencer's hatred for the first day of the school week was later memorialized by Bob Geldof, the leader of the rock group The Boomtown Rats, in the song, "I Don't Like Mondays."

Spencer, who pled guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon, is currently serving a term of 25 years to life at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California. She has been denied parole four times, most recently in 2005.
« Go Back to Today in History Index
Powered by Today in History v2.0

Random Historic Days

» August 16, 1821
Arthur Cayley, British mathematician, is born

» February 26, 1907
US Congress raised their own salaries to $7500

» September 30, 1904
White Sox lefty Doc White, pitches his 5th shutout in 18 days

Today in History

Daylight saving time instituted Read more...

U.S. sub collides with Japanese fishing boat in Pearl Harbor Read more...

Coors brewery heir is kidnapped Read more...