I don't like Mondays.

Brenda Spencer

The suburbs have harbored their share of deadly women but until 1979 one of its institutions had been largely untouched by violence or death. On Monday January 29 that would change forever. This is one of the most unthinkable horrendous crimes that could ever occur in California, in the nation and in the world. The city is San Diego California, school teacher Darrell Barnes heads off for another day. He was a teacher for 38 years. He enjoyed the community and he enjoyed the kids that were there. It was a extremely pleasant experience until the incident happened across the road. from Darrell school Grover Cleveland elementary. 16 year old Brenda Spencer is home alone. Her single-parent father has left for work but Brenda isn't preparing for class. She's looking for a thrill. This Monday would spawn a hit song and become the most infamous school day in modern history.

It's difficult to think of anything more evil than shooting into a crowd of schoolchildren. For district attorney Richard, that monday starts a case he's followed for 30 years. This was the country's, if not, the world's first school shooting type of case. Before January 1979, this type of behavior, this type of crime was unheard of. It's a Monday that will scar Cam Miller, then just nine years old. Every day he wake up he sees a scar on his chest and it's a constant daily reminder that he is fortunate to be alive. Every parent wants nothing more than to protect their child. In this particular case these parents thought they were doing that, by sending their kids to school. As I walked up to school apparently she saw Cam was wearing a blue vest and he was a good target because she liked blue.

So she shot at her favorite colors. ‘The bullet actually went in my back and out my chest, I was very fortunate that it did just go straight through my body, ’ Cam said. These 22 caliber rounds are going be traveling probably at excess of 1,600 to 2,000 feet per second, so when something is going that quickly through your body, you won't perceive pain, but you will perceive a shock from the transfer of the kinetic energy. ‘The principal and I were sitting in the office talking and we heard this hop-hop-hop. It sounded like firecrackers to us and it got our attention. I saw children either fall or grab a part of their body and start crying, some screaming, some just look around and shot. We didn't know where this was coming from,’ Darrel Barnes said. Undetected Brenda had the school under siege.

As news of the killings gets out, the country goes into collective shock. They're asking, how can a killer open fire at defenseless children in a suburban schoolyard. One thing we can say with absolute certainty is having a gun accessible to a minor greatly contributed to the case. It was absolutely wrong and illegal. Brenda's 22 caliber rifle is a Christmas present from her father. There is no question in my mind that Brenda's father bears a tremendous amount of responsibility for what happened. Buying a rifle and supplying her with bullets, he has much to be ashamed of. Brenda had been known in the neighborhood as a troublemaker. Colleen Davidson was just five when she first tried to befriend her. ‘One of my first memories is going to her house and I had my Barbie doll and she ripped its head off and I was really upset, I went home crying’ said Colleen Davidson.

Doll mutilation is something that we have seen in children and teenagers who later become killers or stalkers of others. It can show a rage against the owner of the doll or that's how she's abused at home by someone. She's recreating it. Brenda would later accuse her father of sexual abuse. what I see is a person who felt like, I don't have anyone that loves me, I don't have anyone that even cares about me, I can die tomorrow and everybody will be happier. That was her state of mind. She felt if I'm miserable, I'm going to spread the misery to other people. Before that fateful January day, no one really knew what was going on in Brenda Spencer's mind. But soon, she will tell the world. A 16 year old girl Brenda Spencer is firing 22 caliber bullets into innocent children dropped off at San Diego's Grover Cleveland elementary school.

I had to get these kids out of here and that was going to be a big deal because I had to get the ones that were wounded in the office, and there were still kids coming down the street. Teacher Darrell Barnes is joined by principal Burton Rag who bravely jumps into the line of fire. There was three more pops which were shots by Brenda Spencer and he twirled and dropped down immediately, right there at the front of the school. I ran over to him, he had a big red spot right on his chest. A gunshot wound to the aorta is a very lethal event. The aorta is the major blood vessel that leaves the heart. It transfers oxygenated blood to all the organs in the body. It is putting out blood at a very rapid rate, very difficult to survive, even with immediate medical care.

Principal Rag dies at the scene. Darrell risks his life to save the wounded, of course It didn't stop her from shooting eight kids. But at least I got him out of that area, in case she wanted to continue to shoot at them. There is more courage than a school custodian, Michael Sukar also Braves the sniper. He was taking a blanket to put over Burton Rag. Three shots rang out and hit him. He'd been in the service, where this is the kind of thing he did. He has never been scratched. Today in his life in war Michael too will die of his wounds. I think the fact that Brenda shot on and on and on, kind of speaks for itself, in that she was enjoying it and it was doing something for her absolute power and control over the lives of others.

By 9:00 a.m. police have arrived. I hadn't had a chance to talk to this police officer except to say well there's some bodies out in front and so he was crawling out to see if he could assist them. And then she shot again, Officer Robert Rod is shot in the neck. she was a very good shot. She used very good accuracy in order to hit this many. The death toll only stops when police moved a garbage truck to block Brenda's firing line. Before Brenda makes her next move, a journalist calls asking why. When Brenda said to the reporter, I did it because I don't like Mondays, when I first read that, it occurred to me that she certainly was not mentally ill, when she did it. It was too flippant and sarcastic and answer for someone who's seriously mentally ill.

I worked with the seriously mentally ill for ten years. That's not the kind of answer you get when you ask them a question and I think it shows Brenda's contempt for society. After a six-hour standoff Brenda finally surrenders. She's shot approximately 36 times. She wounded eight school children, one police officer, killed the principal of the school and a school custodian. Nine injured, two dead, 36 rounds fired, 11 hits. In April 1980, Brenda Spencer is imprisoned for 25 years to life. She has applied for parole four times, each time it's been denied. This is the type of case where in our view, she should never be released from prison. She should spend the rest of her entire life in prison for what she's done. I don't have any animosities or vengeance towards Brenda Spencer. I forgave her a long time ago but I do believe that it's important that she pays the consequences of her judgment. Many of us don't like Mondays but Brenda Spencer had so much more not to like, not the least of it an abusive father who bought her a gun, that she tragically used for a sick and twisted thrill yet.