Shelley Chamberlain

"My God, why won't you help him? Why won't you help him?!"

Shelley "Shell" Chamberlain is a delusional, female spree killer who appears in Season Six of Criminal Minds.

Background
Shelley was originally happily married to Don Chamberlain, who was a firefighter, and had a son with him, Damien, who looked up to his father. On April 6, 2010, a West Tampa liquor store was robbed by a man named Hanley Waters, who fled the scene in a car, leading to a high speed pursuit. Shelley was driving not far from the chase with Damien in the backseat. It was Damien's birthday on that day. When he kept kicking the backside of her seat, she turned around for a second to tell him to stop and was hit by Waters' car. She survived without serious injuries but Damien died. As a police officer was also killed in the incident in some way, his death got all of the focus, while Damien's death went by almost unnoticed, being a footnote in all of the news articles. Shelley and Don's marriage was badly hurt by their son's death and greatly deteriorated. Sometime on January of the following year, Don filed for divorce, as well as a restraining order, and moved out, taking a .38 revolver he owned along with him. He did, however, leave behind a stash of ammunition, likely by accident.

Hanley Waters
After waking up from a nightmare about Damien's death, Shelley tries to take some antidepressant pills, only to find that the containers are all empty. After smashing a mirror in distress, she becomes calm and finds several rounds of the ammunition left behind. Next, she goes to the Gun Kings Armory gun store in West Tampa and tries to purchase a .38 revolver, intending to kill Don with it, as she blamed him for what happened. When the clerk learns that she doesn't have a gun permit, he gives her an application, saying the state has a minimum waiting period of three days to get a permit, which stuns her. While the clerk goes to help another customer, Shelley loads the gun with some of the ammunition she brought, accidentally dropping some while doing so, and uses it to kill the owner, the clerk, and the present two customers when the former spotted her attempting to flee with it. She then goes to a shopping mall in Ybor City to meet Don, only to find him not there. She helps a boy when he fell and hurt his knee, but a security guard misinterprets her actions as a possible abduction attempt and takes the boy to his mother, forcing her to shoot and kill him in a blind rage in front of many witnesses. Shelley then flees to the road, where she comes across a road block in Riverside Heights and attacks the two police officers stationed there while escaping. Still waiting for Don, Shelley casts aside the opportunity to escape and turns back to Oakford Park, shooting at two paramedics present at the scene, but missing both.

Later reuniting with Don, who initially tries to remind her of the restraining order, she draws her gun when he turns his back on her, but then puts it away and instead pressures him into going to Sir Burger, where they celebrated Damien's third, fourth, and fifth birthdays. There, a waiter approaches them and Don asks for a birthday surprise, but the waiter replies it is reserved for children, causing Shelley to snap and pull out her gun. Only Don and the waiter are aware of the unfolding situation, and, when Shelley becomes distracted by a couple celebrating their son's birthday, the waiter evacuates the rest of the customers. However, Shelley, her psychosis escalating, approaches the family and kindly allows them at gunpoint to proceed with the birthday. Outside, the BAU and local police arrive, and Hotch tells everyone to stand down before going inside. He distracts Shelley with a picture of the entire Chamberlain family while the waiter, who still remained at the scene, evacuated himself and the family. Distraught, Shelley tells Hotch and Don that she yelled at Damien right before Waters' car crashed into them and that she blames herself and Don for his death, the latter for having not responded to the car crash when she told Damien that he would. When Hotch hands her the picture of her family, she breaks down, allowing Don to seize the gun and hand it to Hotch. Shelley appears to finally accept Damien's death and looks at Don with a soft smile.

Profile
"They don't remember. No one remembers!"

The unsub is a white female between the ages of 30 and 40, who is driving a teal-green station wagon. The only thing that matters is her behavior, which is random. She could have escaped through the roadblock, but she circled back instead, which indicates that she has a score to settle in that particular area on that day. When emotional decisions drive an unsub, it is usually connected to a significant loss and the idea that there is nothing to live for. It is believed that this woman has been through the devastating loss of a child, and the day of her loss means something to her. She has been lashing out at hero figures, likely because she feels deeply betrayed by one who let her down. The fact that her anger seems to be focused on first responders rather then hospital personnel or doctors indicates that her child probably did not die of natural causes, and most likely instead from some kind of accident. If that is so, she believes that her child should have been saved, but was not. Rage like this has been built over time over years and has been debilitating. She most likely has not been a functioning member of society since the loss of her child and this rampage is her last chance to be heard.

Modus Operandi
Shelley killed all of her victims with a .38 snub-nosed Smith & Wesson Model 64 revolver that she stole from the gun store on the day of the spree. Besides the victims in the gun store, they were typically local heroes, such as EMTs and security guards, and the fatal victims were all apparently only shot once.

Known Victims

 * The April 6, 2011 killing spree in Tampa, Florida:
 * West Tampa: Four killed in the Gun Kings Armory gun store massacre:
 * Larry Connors
 * The two unnamed customers
 * The unnamed clerk
 * Ybor City: Paul Lyons
 * Riverside Heights: Two policemen injured in the roadblock shooting:
 * Officer Gibbs
 * Officer Sparks
 * Oakford Park: Two paramedics shot at in a drive-by shooting:
 * Unnamed paramedic
 * Carlos Zappa
 * The Sir Burger standoff:
 * Took the following hostage:
 * Don Chamberlain
 * An unnamed family
 * The unnamed father
 * Joy
 * Sam
 * Bill
 * Aaron Hotchner

Appearances

 * Season Six
 * Hanley Waters