ghosttruck
Level 57 Taco Wizard
The god mother of the modern school shooting is now up for parole. She inspired a song, she unleashed hatred and unfortunately started a movement. Brenda Spencer was a small freckled young girl who woke up one monday, took her epilepsy medicine and after washing it down with whisky deciding to "Liven up the day" with a little mass murder.
40 years have gone by...she was 16 at the time of the shooting that shattered so many lives. The question is can a person be rehabilitated. She's 56 now, been locked up for 40 years...has she changed? The following article is well written enough that I won't rehash it. I'll put a few of the more noteworthy quotes up and link it.
Thanks @Sugar Cookie for the story toss!
The diminutive 16-year-old with bright red hair then armed herself with the .22 rifle and telescopic sight that her father, Wally, had given her for Christmas and started firing shots from a window.
Her target was Grover Cleveland Elementary School, just 150ft away across the road, where — at around 8.30am — a crowd of young children were waiting patiently for their head teacher to unlock the gates.
After a 20-minute shooting spree, eight children and three adults had been hit, among them a police officer who was shot through the neck. Two were killed, including the head teacher, Burton Wragg, who ran outside and was hit as he tried to help injured children, and the school caretaker, who had tried to rescue in the head.
As she continued shooting, SWAT officers surrounded the house and evacuated the school from the rear. Spencer told police negotiators she had shot the children and staff because they made such easy targets.
‘I don’t like Mondays,’ she told him. ‘This livens up the day.’
The song became No 1 in the UK singles chart and was backed by an eerie video in which the band performed the piano ballad to a classroom of young children.
A psychiatric evaluation in December 1978 concluded that she should be put in hospital as a danger to herself and others — but again, her father resisted.
Mass murderer up for parole 40 years after San Diego school shooting
Brenda Spencer, then aged 16, opened fire on a San Diego elementary school killing two, because she 'didn't like Mondays'. Lawyers say she could now make a successful parole application.
www.dailymail.co.uk
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