This was originally posted in 2010 and I thought it appropriate to repost this again this year. When people think of school shootings, like many other crimes, they often do not think of females being capable of doing them:
When most people think of school shootings they do not think of girls doing it. But one of the first major K-12 school shootings to occur in this country was committed by a 16-year-old girl.
In January 1979 Brenda Spencer opened fire on children who were arriving at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego that was across from her home. She began shooting at the students with a .22 rifle. The school principal and a custodian were both killed by her while they were attempting to save the children. Spencer also wounded a police officer and 8 elementary school children before she was stopped.
As bad as that is, her comments at the time of the crime and later at parole hearings give some insight into a female psychopathic mind. At the time of her arrest she reportedly told them that she’d started shooting for the fun of it, because she didn’t like Mondays. “Mondays always get me down.” She had done it to cheer herself up. (this later became the basis for a song titled “I don’t like Monday’s”) She also allegedly said “It was like shooting ducks in a pond”; “the children looked like a herd of cows standing around, it was really easy pickings.”
She was sent to prison for 25 to life and has been up for parole a few times now. Allegedly at her first parole hearing she expressed doubt that any of her victims were shot by her and that they may have been shot by police instead. She also allegedly stated that she was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the shooting and that the police and prosecutors created fake evidence showing there had been no drugs in her system.
By her third parole hearing she had begun to voice guilt and remorse for her actions and made a claim that she had been sexually abused by her father in the past.
