On May 6, 1940, recently dismissed 37-year-old principal Verlin Spencer killed three of his former colleagues at the South Pasadena Unified School District headquarters. He then drove to South Pasadena Junior High School (now South Pasadena Middle School), where he murdered two additional staff members before being subdued and arrested.[1] The incident is considered the first mass shooting[a] to target a school.[2]
On July 29, 1940, Spencer pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. He was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences with the possibility of parole.[3] Spencer had initially entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.[3] He was paroled in 1970, and spent his remaining years in Hawaii, helping rehabilitate former convicts until his death in 1991.[1][4]
Shooting
At approximately 2:15 p.m. on May 6, 1940, Spencer arrived at the now-demolished South Pasadena Unified School District headquarters at 1327 Diamond Avenue.[5] A scheduled meeting regarding his disputed dismissal as principal was set to take place there.[1] Carrying a .22 caliberColt Woodsmansemiautomatic pistol, Spencer entered the administrative offices where the meeting was to occur, and shot dead three district officials.[1][6]
After killing the three men, Spencer fled the building. As he exited, he encountered 30-year-old school board secretary Dorothy Talbert, who attempted to hide beneath her desk.[1][6] Spencer shot her in the shoulder as she sought cover, leaving her permanently paralyzed.[1] Talbert described Spencer as firing with “lightning precision.”[7] As he fled the scene, students from nearby South Pasadena High School - unaware of what had happened - helped him jump-start his car, which had a dead battery.[1]
Spencer then drove three blocks to South Pasadena Junior High School. Upon entering the building, he shot art teachers 35-year-old[8] Verner V. Vanderlip and 45-year-old Ruth Barnett Sturgeon.[6] Reports indicated that he had forced Vanderlip into the school's basement.[1] Vanderlip died at the scene, while Sturgeon succumbed to her injuries on May 9, 1940.[6][8] When police arrived, they cornered Spencer in the empty school cafeteria. He then turned the gun on himself and fired into his torso, though the wound caused only minor injury.[1] Multiple initial news reports mistakenly claimed Spencer had died from the self-inflicted gunshot.[9]
Author John Church was in Pasadena at the time of the shooting, an experience he later recounted in his 1996 book Pasadena Cowboy: Growing Up in Southern California and Montana, 1925–1947.[10][11] Groups of students reportedly searched the school for Spencer or additional victims. They eventually found the body of Verner V. Vanderlip at the bottom of the basement stairs.[11] Dorothy Talbert and Ruth Barnett Sturgeon were rushed to Huntington Hospital after being discovered, with Sturgeon later dying of her injuries.[6]
Perpetrator
Verlin Spencer (1903 - 1991) was born in Colorado to Edna R. Bloss and an unknown father.[12] Aside from the fact that his parents divorced at an unspecified time, little is known about his early life.[13] He later moved to Ventura, California.
While living in Ventura, Spencer married a woman named Mildred. The couple relocated to South Pasadena in 1933 when Spencer was 30, and his mother eventually moved in with them.[1][12] In South Pasadena, he began work at South Pasadena Junior High School, though his perfectionism and strict administrative style reportedly caused friction among the staff.[1] Ruth Barnett Sturgeon was a member of staff that Spencer notably disliked.[6]
In 1939, Spencer allegedly suffered a nervous breakdown.[6] This was possibly linked to chronic headaches he was experiencing.[1] As a result, Superintendent Bush placed him on an involuntary three-week leave of absence.[1][6] The break did little to help; upon returning, Spencer developed a persecution complex.[6] He also began carrying the pistol later used in the attack in his car.[1] He was reportedly an avid gun collector who frequently practiced at local shooting ranges.[6]
On April 30, 1940, Spencer was suspended from his position - a decision he strongly contested. A meeting to discuss the matter was scheduled for May 6 at the South Pasadena Unified School District headquarters, the day the shooting occurred.[1]
Legal proceedings and incarceration
On July 29, 1940, Spencer pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder.[3] In the months leading up to this, he had entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, but ultimately changed his plea after being called to trial before Judge Thomas L. Ambrose.[3] This shift may have been influenced by the discovery of a note Spencer had written stating that he was of “right mind” and leaving his home to his wife - evidence that could have undermined his insanity defence.[1]
Spencer was sentenced to five life terms with the possibility of parole beginning in 1947 and was incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.[1] However, three years into his sentence, a doctor at County-USC Medical Center reported that immediately after the shooting, Spencer had exhibited extremely high levels of bromide - an over-the-counter sedative - within his bloodstream.[1] Authorities eventually concluded that the drug's influence had contributed to the attack, leading to Spencer being declared not guilty for his actions.[1] Despite this finding, he remained in custody. Sometime after the California Medical Facility opened in 1955, Spencer was transferred there.[4]
While incarcerated, Spencer worked as a teacher for other inmates.[1] At night, he devoted himself to writing numerous legal appeals.[1] In 1968, one of these appeals succeeded when it was noted that his attorney had failed to raise the insanity defence during Spencer's final hearing, prompting a new trial. During that proceeding, it was determined that Spencer would be paroled in 1970 on the condition that he could not return to California.[1][7]
Post release
After his release, Spencer moved to Hawaii, where he worked to help rehabilitate former convicts. He continued this work until his death in 1991 at the age of 88.[1][4]
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