1979. School shooting in San Diego. 9 wounded. 2 dead.
Maybe you dig West Wing like me. I have seen the show pilot-to-finale multiple times. I am a Sorkin groupie. I was introduced to the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” by the 4th season’s “20 Hours in America” two-part season opener. So, tonight being a Monday, the events and the song that they inspired. Sadly, what was a shocking tragedy in 1979 is all too commonplace today.
How a School Shooting Inspired the Boomtown Rats’ ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’
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A Bit of Background ...
from the San Diego Police Museum ...
Brenda Ann Spencer (born April 3, 1962) is a convicted American murderer who carried out a shooting spree from her home in San Diego, on January 29, 1979.
During the shooting spree, she killed two people and injured nine others at Cleveland Elementary School, which was located across the street from her home.
Spencer is best known for her quote "I don't like Mondays," which inspired the song "I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats.
The song was a UK number one single for four weeks in mid-1979.
...
When asked why she committed the shooting Spencer replied,
"I just did it for the fun of it. I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day. I have to go now. I shot a pig (policeman) I think and I want to shoot more. I'm having too much fun (to surrender)."
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, "[The children] looked like a herd of cows standing around; it was really easy pickings."
The First Modern School Shooter Feels Responsible for the Rest
In the meantime, she will sit as inmate W14944 in the California Women’s Institution, seeming to see no irony in having used heated metal to brand the words “Courage” and “Pride” across her chest. She is now 51 and will no doubt hear of more school shootings and ask herself if they got the idea from what she did on that long ago Monday.
The boomtown rats
from Wikipedia:
The Boomtown Rats are an Irish new wave band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. The group is led by vocalist Bob Geldof. The other members of the original line-up were Garry Roberts (lead guitar), Johnnie Fingers (keyboard), Pete Briquette (bass), Gerry Cott (rhythm guitar) and Simon Crowe (drums).
The Boomtown Rats broke up in 1986, but reformed in 2013, without Johnnie Fingers or Gerry Cott.
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