Skoleskyderier: Cleveland Elementary og Columbine

On 29 January 1979 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer opened fire on children arriving at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego from her house across the street killing two men and wounding eight students and a police officer. Principal Burton Wragg was attempting to rescue children in the line of fire when he was shot and killed and custodian Mike Suchar was shot attempting to aid Wragg. Spencer used a rifle her father had given her as a Christmas gift. After the massacre Brenda's only comment to the shooting was: 'I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day'. The 'I don't like Mondays' comment was not the only eyebrow-raising comment from Spencer that day. According to a report written by the police negotiators who spoke with her during the six-hour standoff she made such comments to them as 'There was no reason for it and it was just a lot of fun'; 'It was just like shooting ducks in a pond'; and 'the children looked like a herd of cows standing around it was really easy pickings'. That Spencer failed to kill any of the children she shot at was luck rather than missing gun-skills. The bullet that struck 9-year-old Charles "Cam" Miller missed his heart by about an inch. Spencer pled guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. She has been up for parole four times and has been turned down each time, the last time in 2005. At her first parole hearing she expressed doubt that any of the victims were hit by bullets from her rifle and contended they might have been shot by police. She also claimed to have been under the influence of alcohol and hallucinogenic drugs at the time of the shootings and prosecutors and her defense attorney had conspired to fabricate test evidence showing there had been no drugs in her system. By her third parole hearing she was admitting guild and expressing remorse but was still contending that she had been drunk and high on PCP the day of her deadly shooting. She also claimed something new that she had been beaten and sexually abused by her father.