Zac Rubenis

''Disambiguation: This page is about the hitman. For the terminology, see Sniper''

The Sniper (real name unknown) was a serial killer, sniper, and hitman who appeared in Season Eleven of Criminal Minds.

Background
Absolutely nothing about the Sniper's background is known, not even his real name, though Morgan deduced from his sniping abilities that he was ex-military. What is known is that he was a hitman and a member of a network of hitmen that cropped up after the dismantlement of the Silk Road by the FBI in 2013.

Target Rich
Though he doesn't physically appear in the episode, the Sniper manages to give a prison guard a toxic substance, which is used to kill fellow colleague Giuseppe Montolo. After the guard is successful in poisoning Montolo, the Sniper kills him in order to remove loose ends.

Internal Affairs
Off-screen, he was hired by NSA Director William Cochran to kill Bernard Graff, who was investigating the Libertad Cartel, a drug cartel Cochran was running. When Graff sets up a meeting with Hotch and enters his car, he is shot in the head by the Sniper, who then makes it look like a suicide.

Entropy
The Sniper is seen watching over Barry Winslow, the group's hostage and technical analyst, at the network's safe house. As he readies his artillery, the Chemist enters the home with his own supplies. Just then, SWAT agents storm the house, led by the BAU. The Sniper grabs a handgun and tries to shoot Rossi, JJ, and a SWAT agent with it, but JJ kills him before he could pull the trigger.

Modus Operandi
The Sniper would kill his victims from a maximum distance of 2,000 meters by shooting them with a sniper rifle, hence his nickname. It is likely that he would be contacted and paid by his clients with each contract kill. When he had Montolo killed, he paid a prison guard to poison him to prevent him giving any information he knew about the network to the BAU. In the case of Bernard Graff, he used his gun to shoot him and made it appear as if he committed suicide.

Profile
No official profile of the Sniper was made by the BAU, since they focused on the network as a whole, although Morgan did believe he was ex-military, if not in the U.S. then in another country.

Known Victims

 * Killed numerous unnamed victims prior to Entropy
 * Unspecified date and location: One or two unnamed men
 * 2015, U.S.:
 * November 10, Florence, Colorado:
 * Giuseppe Montolo
 * Unnamed prison guard
 * December 3, El Paso, Texas, U.S.: Bernard Graff
 * December 2015-January 2016, unspecified location in the U.S.: Attempted to shoot the following:
 * Jennifer Jareau
 * David Rossi
 * An unnamed SWAT agent

Appearances

 * Season Eleven
 * The Job
 * 'Til Death Do Us Part
 * Target Rich
 * Awake
 * Internal Affairs
 * Future Perfect
 * Entropy