Attack
On January 29, 1979, Brenda Ann Spencer put herself by a window in her home and began randomly shooting at Grover Cleveland Elementary School across the street. She opened fire as children were waiting outside for principal Burton Wragg to open the gate. The shooting claimed the lives of Wragg and Mike Suchar, and injured eight students and a police officer. Wragg was killed while trying to help the children, and Suchar was killed while trying to pull Wragg to safety.
After firing thirty rounds, Spencer barricaded herself inside her home for almost seven hours, warning police that she was going to "come out shooting." Ultimately, she surrendered to police. Although police officers found beer and whiskey bottles cluttered around the house, they stated that Spencer did not appear to be intoxicated.
When asked why she committed the gun attack Spencer replied, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day. I have to go now. I shot a pig . I think and I want to shoot more. I'm having too much fun ." She also said, "I had no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun," "It was just like shooting ducks in a pond," and, " looked like a herd of cows standing around; it was really easy pickings." At the time of the shootings, Spencer was 16 years old.
Read more about this topic: Brenda Ann Spencer
Famous quotes containing the word attack:
“I make this direct statement to the American people that there is far less chance of the United States getting into war, if we do all we can now to support the nations defending themselves against attack by the Axis than if we acquiesce in their defeat, submit tamely to an Axis victory, and wait our turn to be the object of attack in another war later on.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“A great deal of unnecessary worry is indulged in by theatregoers trying to understand what Bernard Shaw means. They are not satisfied to listen to a pleasantly written scene in which three or four clever people say clever things, but they need to purse their lips and scowl a little and debate as to whether Shaw meant the lines to be an attack on monogamy as an institution or a plea for manual training in the public school system.”
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“Scandal is an importunate wasp, against which we must make no movement unless we are quite sure that we can kill it; otherwise it will return to the attack more furious than ever.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)