Brenda Spencer:

My main topic is gun violence and school shootings, and I have chosen to tell about Brenda Spencer and
her school shooting in 1979.

Reason for choice of topic:

Most school shootings are committed by young kids especially young school boys, therefore I find it
interesting that the school shootings from 1979 was committed by a girl - Brenda. Generally, there is no
particularly reason why the crimes are committed. And for Brenda Spencer there was no reason at all, she
just didn't like Mondays!

Content:
School shootings in the USA
Before I elaborate the shooting by Brenda Ann Spencer, I would like to tell you what is meant by school
shootings. It is a form of mass shooting attack on a school. The United States has the highest number of
school-related shootings. It is very difficult to find out why and what is the exact reason, but there have
been a lot of speculations to why this crime is so common in America. Many people think that it is because
of bullying in the schools, and that is why the kids get isolated. Another aspect could be the increasing use
of depression medication. But I believe that The American Gun Law has a big influence. Almost every adult
American is allowed to carry guns. The right to carry and buy a gun was written into the constitution in
1791.

About Brenda Ann Spencer

Now I would like to tell short about who Brenda Ann Spencer is before I tell about the shooting. She is born
the third of April in 1962 in San Diego, California in The United States. She lived in the San
Carlos neighborhood of San Diego in a house across the street from Grover Cleveland Elementary School.
Her parents were separated and Brenda lived with her father. The did not have much money and slept on a
single mattress on the living room. Brenda had an interest for guns, and her father didn’t find it disturbing.
In fact, he bought her a rifle for Christmas. This was in 1978.

The Brenda Ann Spencer school shooting

January 29, 1979 (actually a Monday), Brenda Ann Spencer did the school shooting. It was in the morning
and she began shooting from her room at the children across the street, who were waiting outside. She
was 16 years old at the time. She killed 2 men, wounded 8 students and a police officer. When she was
asked after the shooting why she did it, she just answered, that she didn’t like Mondays and it was fun and
that it livened up the day. A song "I Don't Like Mondays" – was in fact written by Bob Geldorf for his band
Boomtown Rats and it was released later that year.

After the Brenda Ann Spencer shooting

She finally surrendered to the police after seven hours and police officers found beer and whiskey bottles
around the house, but they said that Brenda did not appear to be affected. Brenda pleaded guilty and was
sentenced to 25 years to life. She was diagnosed as an epileptic and was put on medication for epilepsy
and depression in the prison. Brenda is still in prison, and during the prison time, she has been at four
parole board hearings. The next parole hearing will be next year in 2019. The first parole hearing was in
1993. In all her parole hearings, she has told a different story every time, and every parole hearings have
been denied. For example, at the first hearing she told that she hoped that the police would have killed her
and that she was had been using alcohol and drugs during the time of the crime. In her 2001 hearing she
told for the first time that her father had been abusing her, but her farther denied it, and they did not
believe that the allegations were true, since Brenda had not previously told anybody about these
allegations. The 2005 and 2009 parole hearings were also denied and it was decided that the next hearing
would not be considered until 10 years later in 2019.
This was my presentation of Brenda Ann Spencer and her school shooting.