The I Hate Mondays Killer: Shooting, Quote, and Parole Denials

The “I don’t like Mondays” killer is Brenda Ann Spencer, who was 16 years old when she opened fire from her father’s house on children arriving at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego on January 29, 1979, killing the principal and the custodian and wounding eight students and a police officer. She pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, was sentenced to 25 years to life, and remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Chino, having been denied parole at every hearing since she first became eligible in 1993. Her next parole hearing is scheduled for 2028.{¹}

What Happened That Monday Morning

Children were waiting outside Cleveland Elementary for principal Burton Wragg to unlock the gate. From a window of the house she shared with her father on Lake Atlin Avenue, directly across the street, Spencer began firing a .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle. She squeezed off roughly 36 rounds.{²}

Wragg, 53, was killed in the parking lot while trying to help students to safety. Mike Suchar, the 56-year-old custodian and a World War II Navy Seabees veteran, was shot and killed as he tried to pull a child out of the line of fire.{³} Eight children were hit. So was San Diego police officer Robert Robb, struck in the neck after responding to the scene.{²} One of the wounded, nine-year-old Charles “Cam” Miller, was shot through the back and chest. Spencer later said she targeted him first because he was wearing blue, her favorite color.{}

After the shooting stopped, Spencer barricaded herself inside the house. Officers used a commandeered garbage truck as a rolling shield to evacuate children from the school grounds.{⁴} A SWAT team and the Emergency Negotiations Team surrounded the home. The standoff lasted about seven hours. Spencer had threatened to “come out shooting” but surrendered without further violence.

The Quote That Named Her

During the siege, Steve Wiegand, a reporter for the San Diego Evening Tribune, was cold-calling houses near the school looking for witnesses. He reached Spencer by phone. She confirmed she was the shooter and, in a follow-up call, told him: “I just don’t like Mondays. Do you like Mondays? I did this because it’s a way to cheer up the day. Nobody likes Mondays.” She added, “I just started shooting. That’s it. I just did it for the fun of it.”{⁵}

In separate remarks to police negotiators, she compared the attack to “shooting ducks in a pond” and said the children “looked like a herd of cows standing around; it was really easy pickings.”{⁴}

The Monday line reached Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats, who read it off a telex machine during a radio interview in Atlanta. He called it “the perfect senseless reason” for “the perfect senseless act” and wrote the song “I Don’t Like Mondays,” which went on to win Best Pop Song and Outstanding British Lyric at the 25th Ivor Novello Awards.{⁶} The song is why the nickname stuck. In a 1993 television interview, Spencer said she did not remember making those statements and attributed her state of mind to alcohol and PCP.{⁵}

Who She Was at 16

Spencer grew up in the house directly across from the school she attacked. Her parents had divorced, and her father, Wallace Spencer, a supervisor in the audio-visual department at California State University in San Diego, had custody of Brenda and her siblings.{⁷} The Los Angeles Times described her upbringing as a “broken home.” Under her father’s influence she had learned to hunt and shoot. Her defense attorney cited a history of drug use and hostility toward authority.{³}

The rifle was a Christmas present from her father weeks earlier, in December 1978. It was a scoped .22 semi-automatic.{⁴} On the morning of the shooting she had reportedly been drinking and had taken Tegretol, her epilepsy medication. At her 2005 parole hearing she admitted to using LSD and PCP “three or four times a week” during the weekend before the attack.{⁸}

Starting in 2001, Spencer alleged that her father had sexually abused her, later adding claims of physical abuse that included an incident in which she said he kicked her in the head. These allegations have surfaced at successive parole hearings but have not been corroborated. Family members, including her mother and siblings, consistently said the head injury came from a bicycle accident. Investigators who interviewed her shortly after the 1979 shooting described her relationship with her father as “terrific.” A 2009 parole hearing record stated plainly that “the nature, extent and history of physical and sexual abuse has only one source, the inmate, who lies about what happened the day of the incident.”{⁹}

Charges and Sentence

Although she was 16, Spencer was charged as an adult. She pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and to assault with a deadly weapon.{¹⁰} On April 4, 1980, a judge sentenced her to concurrent terms of 25 years to life.{²}

Why Parole Keeps Being Denied

Spencer first became eligible for parole in 1993. She has been turned down every time. Her hearings:

1993: Denied.
2001: Denied. Spencer first raised sexual abuse allegations against her father at this hearing.
2005: Denied. A psychological evaluation by Dr. Robert Smith diagnosed Spencer with schizo-affective disorder, polysubstance dependence in institutional remission, antisocial personality disorder, and a seizure disorder. Smith concluded she had a “less than favorable risk profile for release,” warning that she would be vulnerable to dangerous behavior if she stopped taking psychotropic medication or resumed drug use.{} Spencer told the panel she was “very deeply sorry” but said she remembered only “bits and pieces” of the attack.⁸
2009: Denied. Spencer expanded her abuse allegations to include siblings and peers.
2022: Denied. The Board of Parole Hearings barred her from reapplying for three years.{}¹
February 21, 2025: Denied. The board heard from three victims and from the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, which filed what it called a “strong objection” to release.{}¹¹

At the 2025 hearing, the board weighed California’s Elder and Youthful Parole Laws, which can expedite release for inmates convicted as minors or for those over 50. Spencer, now 62, qualifies under both. San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan argued that neither factor outweighed the severity of the crime, saying “the totality of the horrific circumstances of this crime and this case do not warrant release.” Stephan said the 1979 shooting “continues to hold a place of infamy in the history of mass shootings in our nation” and described Spencer as “often regarded as the first modern high-profile school shooter.”{²}

Where She Is Now

Spencer has been held at the California Institution for Women in Chino since her 1980 sentencing. She will be eligible to appear before the parole board again in 2028.{¹} Grover Cleveland Elementary has since been demolished.

1
Fox 5 San Diego. Brenda Spencer I Don’t Like Mondays School Shooter Faces Parole Board
2
San Diego County District Attorney. Brenda Spencer Parole Denial
3
Los Angeles Times. San Diego Shooting Anniversary
4
San Diego Police Historical Association. Brenda Spencer
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Snopes. Brenda Spencer: I Don’t Like Mondays
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Yahoo Entertainment. The Dark True Crime Story Behind I Don’t Like Mondays
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The New York Times. Coast Sniper Vowed She Would Do Something Big
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School Shooters Info. Spencer Parole Hearing 2005
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ResearchGate. Brenda Spencer: Sorting Out the Contradictions
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NBC San Diego. I Don’t Like Mondays School Shooter Denied Parole Again
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Times of San Diego. Brenda Spencer I Don’t Like Mondays School Shooter Again Denied Parole