Charged as an adult, she pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon, resulting in her being sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 25 years.
[6][7] At later parole hearings, she claimed to have been subject to "total neglect" from her mother and sexual abuse from her father; the accusations have been disputed by the respective parents.
[3][6] Although Spencer showed ability as a photographer, winning first prize in a Humane Society competition, she was generally uninterested in school.
She attended Patrick Henry High School, where one teacher recalled frequently inquiring if she was awake in class.
That summer, Spencer, who was known to hunt birds in the neighborhood, was arrested for shooting out the windows of Grover Cleveland Elementary with a BB gun and for burglary.
[11] In December, a psychiatric evaluation arranged by her probation officer recommended that Spencer be admitted to a mental hospital for depression, but her father refused to give permission.
"[14] On the morning of Monday, January 29, 1979, Spencer began shooting from her house[15] at children waiting for 53-year-old Principal Burton Wragg to open the gates to Grover Cleveland Elementary.
[16] She injured eight children; she began with nine-year-old Cam Miller, since he was wearing Spencer's favorite color, blue.
[6] A 28-year-old police officer, Robert Robb, had responded to a call for assistance during the incident, where he was wounded in the neck as he arrived.
[6] Further casualties were avoided only because the police obstructed her line of fire by moving a garbage truck in front of the school entrance.
[20] According to the New York Daily News, her actions marked a significant turning point in American history, with some referring to Spencer as “the mother” of subsequent school shootings, including those at Columbine and Newtown.
[20] San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs noted that Spencer “hurt so many people and had so much to do with starting a deadly trend in America.” In a 2001 statement, Spencer acknowledged the potential influence of her actions on later incidents, remarking, “With every school shooting, I feel I’m partially responsible.
From 2005 to 2017, it housed the Magnolia Science Academy,[29] a public charter middle school serving students in grades 6–8.
[32] Bob Geldof, then the lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, read about the incident when a news story about it came off the telex at WRAS-FM, the campus radio station at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
[23] It was released in July 1979, was number one for four weeks in the United Kingdom,[33] and was the band's biggest hit in their native Ireland.
Although it did not make the Top 40 in the U.S., it still received extensive radio airplay (outside of the San Diego area) despite the Spencer family's efforts to prevent it.
[38][39][40] The Lifetime Movies series Killer Kids released an episode "Deadly Compulsion" depicting Spencer's crimes, which first aired on September 3, 2014.