Criminal Minds Wiki
Advertisement

Nature isn't concerned with the individual, but with the species.
Smith in an interview

Benjamin Nathaniel "August" Smith is a racist spree killer and a follower of incarcerated white supremacist Matthew F. Hale. Smith committed a series of targeted drive-by shootings in Illinois and Indiana against people of marginalized races and ethnicities during Independence Day weekend, before committing suicide.

Background[]

Benjamin Nathaniel Smith was born on March 22, 1978, and raised in Wilmette, Illinois. Little is known about his early life, except his father was a doctor, his mother a real estate agent and trustee, and he had two younger brothers. In high school, he accosted a police officer in Skokie and pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor battery, leading to his transfer to a Kenosha, Wisconsin high school. Opting out of a graduating class photo, he left a class statement of Sic semper tyrannis, meaning "Thus always to tyrants", which has been used by ancient rebellions and contemporarily by terrorists and assassins. Smith first attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, choosing the agriculture, consumer, and environmental sciences campus. Smith was in the Allen Hall dormitory, with a progressive program enriched with an array of guest authors and artists.

An alt newspaper interview of Smith alleged he stated his racism started at the university, with so many international students on campus. Smith crossed Matthew F. Hale when he was recruiting on campus for his white supremacist organization, the World Church of the Creator, but Hale reportedly rejecting Smith's inquiries about violence. Smith would testify for Hale in his failed appeal for practicing a law license. The campus police detained Smith for beating his then-girlfriend, Elizabeth Ann Sahr, in his dorm room, possession of marijuana, and fighting other students, all in a single week in October 1997. Smith was put on probation, ordered into counseling, and arranged for ethics classes and community service. Smith posted racist literature in the dorm ten days later, merely stating to right to freedom of speech without admitting guilt. Smith was reported for peeking into dorm rooms and possession weapons, then filed a mistreatment complaint himself against the dorm administration. With a disciplinary hearing scheduled in February 1998 with plans to expel him, Smith's parents were called by college officials, and Smith was convinced to drop out and sign a contracted promise to never return.

Smith started in the University of Indiana in the summer, turning far more outspoken about his racism. His major went from computer science to criminal justice, Smith choosing a department focused on racial hate crimes. He spoke with his parents, but he rejected his friends at home by calling them "race traitors". Smith dispersed White Nationalist Party leaflets all across cars on campus, then lambasted the university in a manifesto to the Indiana Daily Student in June over denying him free speech out of "bias" once an official confronted him. The letter was signed "August Smith" because smith found his birth name "too Jewish". Smith saw affirmative action as "racist" and criticized clubs oriented to racial identity. Smith left two thousand fliers across Bloomington by the time the 4th of July arrived that year. Then-mayor of Bloomington John Fernandez met Smith, at a rally and then a call-in radio show, finding Smith didn't show signs of violence. Lisa Sorg of Bloomington Independent eventually interviewed Smith during a meeting at Encore Café, and he was the subject of a documentary at the university's local PBS station. Smith revealed he received death threats, but was unphased.

The local Anti Defamation league chapter took notice of Smith's propaganda, and Bloomington United formed as an alliance against the pamphlets, but Smith wrote another letter exaggerating there was a "silent white majority" affirming his actions from within the student body. The anthropology department's faculty wrote a countering letter challenging the racial "history" Smith covered in the leaflets, and a black-American fellow student at the university, Tyrese Alexander, then 23, heard "August" Smith mentioned in her Race and Ethnicity class, without even realizing she lived in the same apartment complex as him, Touchdown Terrace, until afterwards. Smith glared at residents of marginalized races, and his car windows were broken on an average of once a week in retaliation for his hate speech. Three weeks before Smith's shooting spree began, he was arrested on a DUI and charges of his leaflets, the trial date being deferred after a hearing almost two weeks later. Two days before the spree, Hale was rejected in his licensure application, which Hale himself would later admit was a likely stressor for the attacks. Smith at some point acquired a tattoo on his chest reading "Sabbath Breaker", along with guns and ammunition to load into his light blue Ford Taurus.

Independence Day Weekend Shootings[]

Smith began his spree on the evening of June 2, 1999, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath and two days after a hearing panel refused Hale's license. After Sabbath services were finished and congregants were returning home in West Rogers Park, which holds the largest Hasidic Jewish community in the Midwest and is near Smith's childhood neighborhood, Smith shot and wounded six Orthodox Jewish men in drive-by shootings. Smith then proceeded to Skokie, targeting black-American former basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, as he was returning from jogging with his children Ricky, Jr. and Kelley. Smith shot Byrdsong in his back and killed him from the ballistic trauma, his children witnesses to the murder. Smith then sped to Northbrook, where he saw an Asian-American couple and fired upon them, only for the shots to miss them both.

On July 3, Smith shot at two black men in Springfield, but the shots missed them as well. A black-American minister was shot by Smith in Decatur, but he lived, as the bullet was lodged in his buttock. Returning to the University of Illinois, Smith fired upon six Asian and Asian-American men, one being a graduate student who lived through being shot in his leg. On July 4, Smith returned to Bloomington to shoot into a crowd of ten Asian and Asian-American University of Indiana students, killing Yoon Won-Joon, a Korean-American economics graduate on his way to the Korean United Methodist Church affiliated with the campus. Making his way to Marion County, Illinois, a rural region in the southern area of the state, Smith stole a van at gunpoint and sped off, resulting in police being dispatched. Smith tried to kill himself during a high-speed highway by shooting himself twice in his head, but he only caused the van to careen off the rode and crash into a metal post. As deputies pulled Smith out of the vehicle, Smith successfully fought for the gun and shot himself again, but in the heart for the last time. Smith was rushed to the hospital and died from his injuries.

One living victim filed a lawsuit against Hale and his organization, Smith's parents, and the gun seller who was charged for not checking to see that Smith didn't have a license. Yoon was the namesake for a scholarship at his graduating university, and then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno gave a speech at his memorial service. His church honors him every American Independence Day with an early morning service. Byrdsong's wife established a namesake foundation against hate and hate crimes that influences young people, as well as hosts every late June a Race Against Hate 5K run event in Evanston, adding a 10,000 meter run on the 10th anniversary.

Profile[]

In the interview with Lisa Sorg, she profiled Smith as calm, with flat affect in his voice, and dead eyes. The interview revealed Smith was more openly aggressive and extreme in his supremacist ideals even than hale would even admit to. Smith was shameless about suggesting violence for supremacist agendas, revealing hale encouraged violence and terrorism when legal maneuvers ran out or were continuously hindered. Smith saw himself as a martyr for "his" race, fearing for the entire population more than himself. He went even further than Hale's perspective of isolating marginalized populations in geographic arrangements, saying marginalized people should instead be exiled.

Modus Operandi[]

"They won't be very happy to leave, but they'll probably end up wanting to leave."
- Smith about his motives

Smith targeted random victims of marginalized racial and ethnic groups, mostly male in their public communities (i.e. historical neighborhoods, universities, places of worship), though Ricky Byrdsong was killed outside his home. The locations also had some significance to Smith's life timeline (i.e. childhood neighborhood, colleges of enrollment). Each victim was attacked in a drive-by shooting, from behind or while in groups or crowds, from a Ford Taurus with one of two .380 Magnum handguns Smith armed himself with. Smith would speed off even through red lights and leave shell casings behind at the scenes. Although only two victims were killed, both men, it's presumed Smith had the intention of killing as many people as he could shoot. Smith also had disregard for witnesses, such as Byrdsong's children, and targeted them during routines in their daily lives, such as while he was jogging and Yoon during his walk to his church. The dates are also significant, as Smith's spree began at a Jewish synagogue during the beginning of Sabbath, and the final day of the spree was the American Independence Day.

Known Victims[]

Ricky Byrdsong Yoon Won-Joon

Smith's two fatal victims, left to right: Ricky Byrdsong, Yoon Won-Joon

  • Unknown date: Unnamed police officer (assaulted)
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, October 1997:
    • Elizabeth Ann Sahr (his girlfriend; assaulted; beaten)
    • Numerous unnamed students (assaulted)
  • The Independence Day weekend shooting spree, 1999 (all shot or shot at):
    • July 2, Illinois:
      • West Rogers Park, Chicago:
        • Six unnamed Orthodox Jewish men (all assaulted; shot)
      • Skokie: The Byrdsong family
        • Ricky Byrdsong, 43 (a black-American former basketball coach; shot in his lower back)
        • Ricky Byrdsong, Jr. (Byrdsong's son; attempted; shot at, but missed)
        • Kelley Byrdsong (Byrdsong's daughter; attempted; shot at, but missed)
      • Northbrook: Unnamed Asian-American couple (attempted; shot at, but missed)
    • July 3, Illinois:
      • Springfield:
        • Two unnamed black men (attempted; shot at, but missed)
      • Decatur: Unnamed black-American minister (assaulted; shot in his buttock)
      • University of Illinois:
        • Unnamed Asian graduate student, 22 (assaulted; shot in his leg)
        • Five unnamed Asian and Asian-American men (attempted; shot at, but missed)
    • July 4:
      • Bloomington, Indiana:
        • Yoon Won-Joon, 26 (a Korean-American economics graduate student and Methodist parishioner; shot twice in his back)
        • Nine unnamed Asian and Asian-American students (attempted; shot at, but missed)
      • Marion County, Indiana:
        • At least one unnamed victim (assaulted; held at gunpoint and stole their van)

On Criminal Minds[]

While never directly mentioned or referenced in the franchise, Smith appears to be an inspiration for the following unsubs:

  • Season Four
    • Chad Brown ("Amplification") - Both were Caucasian, ideologically-motivated spree killers who had girlfriends, had arrest records prior to their sprees, worked under a mentor whose cause they were triggered to carry further through their crime sprees, targeted random victims at locations familiar to each of them, and were apprehended after standoffs with police (though Smith committed suicide to evade punishment).
  • Season Seven
    • Trevor Mills ("A Thin Line") - Both were Caucasian, college-aged racist murderers who were influenced by the hate speech of public political figures (Mills by Clark Preston, Smith by Matthew F. Hale), who befriended them and extended their support, killed victims of color by shooting in a racist campaign (though Mills also targeted Caucasian families), used handguns as their primary weapons, and died in police standoffs by shooting (though Smith died by suicide, while Mills was shot by FBI response). Also, Preston ordering Mills to commit murders is likely a reference to Hale's recorded compliments of Smith on taped conversations used as evidence against him.

References[]

Advertisement