Brenda Spencer: She Didn't Like Mondays

Brenda Spencer was a girl who suffered from alcohol and drug addiction as a teenager. After her parents separated, her and her father Wallace Spencer slept on a single mattress on the floor that was littered with empty beer bottles. In the summer of 1978, she was arrested for shooting out the windows of the elementary school across the street from her house. After this incident, it was suggested that Brenda be admitted to a mental hospital for chronic depression, but her father refused to let her go there. For Christmas that year, he bought her a Ruger semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle with a telescopic sight and 500 rounds of ammunition. Acquaintances said Spencer showed a lot of hostility toward policemen, had spoken about shooting one, and had talked of doing something big to get on television. On January 29, 1979, she did just that.