A Cop Killer is, as the title suggests, a person who kills at least one person working in the local police force or law enforcement agency. Usually, when a cop or agent is murdered, the rest of the police force/agency makes hunting the perpetrator down a top priority, as the officers intend for their colleague's death to not go unpunished. In the course of history, the term 'Cop Killer' has become applicable for anyone who works in some sort of law enforcement field, such as a security guard.
This is not to be confused with a Killer Cop, which is an officer of the law who commits an unjustifiable homicide.
On Criminal Minds[]
Note: Usually, when a policeman or agent is killed on the show it is incidental and not premeditated. One example of the contrary is Animal. Some notable cop killers on the show are:
- Jason Clark Battle ("Lucky" and "Penelope")
- New York Terrorist Cell ("Lo-Fi" and "Mayhem")
- George Foyet ("Omnivore", "...And Back", "Nameless, Faceless", and "100")
- Billy Flynn ("Our Darkest Hour" and "The Longest Night")
- The Face Cards ("Hit" and "Run")
- John Curtis ("The Silencer", "The Apprenticeship", "Magnificent Light", "Perennials", "Zugzwang", "Broken", "Carbon Copy", "Brothers Hotchner" and "The Replicator")
- Wallace Hines ("The Inspiration" and "The Inspired")
- Owen McGregor ("Angels" and "Demons")
- Lindsey Vaughn ("3rd Life", Unforgettable", "Green Light", and "Red Light")
- Peter Lewis ("Mr. Scratch", "The Storm", "The Crimson King", "Mirror Image", "Red Light" and "Wheels Up")
- Lee Duval (Elias Voit) ("Dead End")
Real World[]
- Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin who also murdered Texas Patrolman J.D. Tippit
- Charles Whitman, murderer of Officer Billy Speed during the University of Texas sniper attacks
- Eric Rudolph, murderer of Robert Sanderson in an abortion clinic bombing
- Timothy McVeigh, convicted of murdering eight federal agents in the Oklahoma City bombing
- Larry Phillips, Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu, murderers of bank guard Herman Dwight Cook
- Christopher Dorner, killed four people, including two police officers and a Sheriff's Deputy
- Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, murderers of MIT police officer Sean Collier and BPD Officer Dennis Oliver Simmonds, Jr.
- The Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs, murderers of night guard Elena Shram
- Joseph DeAngelo murdered Brian Maggiore, a Military Police sergeant
- Mark Essex, killed nine people, including five police officers, in a murder spree that spanned eight days
- Bobby Davis and Jack Twinning, perpetrators of the Newhall massacre
- Richard Poplawski, perpetrator of the Pittsburgh police shootings
- Lovelle Mixon, perpetrator of the Oakland shootings
- Maurice Clemmons, perpetrator of the Lakewood police officer shooting
- Jeff Weise, murdered his grandfather (who was a cop) and his grandfather's girlfriend before his massacre at his Red Lake High School
- Micah Xavier Johnson, perpetrator of the 2016 Dallas shootings
- Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, bank robbers, killed 13 people, including nine police officers during a robbery spree lasting from 1932 to 1934.