“ | Here I am, Father. Here is the fire, here is the wood. | ” |
— Meeks
|
William Meeks is a religious serial bomber, school bomber, and mass murderer, who appears in the Season One episode of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, "Here is the Fire".
Background[]
Not much specific information is given about Meeks' past, although it is known that he is religious and, at some point, his wife died while trying to give birth to his fourth son, who also died. This caused Meeks to snap and begin an elaborate plan to kill all three of his sons to start a new life and "save" his sons. He began practicing his bombings at the location where all of his sons were baptized.
Here is the Fire[]
In the episode, after constructing a pipe bomb, Meeks places it at the school his son Kyle is attending. It successfully detonates, killing Kyle, several students, and faculty members and injuring dozens more. He then places another pipe bomb under a school bus his son Paul was scheduled to ride on, but Rawson, Simms, and LaSalle, investigating the bombing that killed Kyle with the rest of the Red Cell team, deduced that the Unsub was a family annihilator out to murder his children and tracked down Paul, saving everyone aboard the bus. Paul later tells them that Meeks gave him and his brothers keychains and told them about infinity. The Red Cell team later tracked down Meeks and his son Shawn at the hospital where his wife and unborn son died. Meeks attempts to blow himself up but is non-fatally shot by Rawson, allowing the police to make the arrest, while Cooper confronts Shawn, who was trying to see if his brothers were in the hospital. After a brief conversation, Shawn hands Cooper his backpack, which is shown to carry no bomb. Rawson later finds a bomb at the hospital's maternity ward and disables it, saving the hospital from destruction. Shawn and Paul reunite while Meeks is taken into custody.
Modus Operandi[]
Meeks used pipe bombs, which were detonated via time devices. He would place the bombs in his sons' backpacks. Meeks would also leave behind zealous messages quoting Bible scripture in the remnants of the bombs. (i.e. "Here I am, Father. Here is the fire, here is the wood.")
Profile[]
The unsub is most likely white and middle-aged. On the outside, he appears as a devoted husband and an ideal father. The unsub is a both a family annihilator and a personal-cause bomber. As a family annihilator, he most likely suffered a devastating loss that could be financial, divorce or the death of a loved one. In his mind, the only rational thing to do was wipe out his family and start clean. The key to the tragedy was that it defined him. As a personal-cause bomber, he was trying to push an ideology on everyone. The delusion of why he needed to kill his family would be linked to this ideology. At the center of both of these profiles is a devastating loss. Like most bombers, the unsub did practice runs before the main event, the school bombing.
The letter that said "Here I Am", was a message, declaring his presence and that he wasn't done yet and there was going to be more bombings. When "Here Is The Fire" was discovered on the remains of the pipe bomb from the school, it was realized that because "Here I Am. Here Is The Fire" is in the Old Testament of the Bible, the bomber was killing for religious reasons. In that verse, God tested Abraham's devotion to him by ordering him to kill his son Isaac. This meant that the bomber was also killing his family.
Real-Life Comparions[]
Meeks appears to be partly inspired by Andrew Kehoe - Both were serial bombers, school bombers, and mass murderers who lost their wives, were religious practitioners, killed a member of their families (Meeks killed one of his sons, Kehoe killed his wife), detonated bombs at schools they were connected to which killed numerous people (Meeks blew up his son's school, Kehoe blew up the school he was employed at), left messages for police to find at the scenes of the crimes, and attempted a murder-suicide (though only Kehoe succeeded).
Meeks also appears to be inspired by John List - Both were mass murderers and family annihilators (attempted in Meeks' case) who were in religious families, were triggered from depression related to their wives (Meeks died during childbirth, List blamed his wife for emasculating him), targeted their entire living families, had at least one surviving victim, and tried to evade police after the spree was over.
Known Victims[]
- Unspecified dates: Several victimless bombings
- March 16, 2011:
- Fredericksburg, Virginia: Over 100 people injured in the Fredericksburg West High School bombing, number of those dead unknown:
- Kyle Meeks (his son; killed in the bombing)
- Principal George Spurell (injured in the bombing)
- Numerous unnamed students and faculty members
- The school bus bombing (no fatalities):
- Paul Meeks (his son)
- Mick Rawson
- Jonathan Simms
- Gina LaSalle
- The unnamed bus driver and supervisor
- Numerous unnamed children
- The attempted hospital bombing:
- Shawn Meeks (his son)
- Sam Cooper
- Beth Griffith
- Mick Rawson
- Numerous unnamed patients and hospital employees
- Several unnamed SWAT agents
- Fredericksburg, Virginia: Over 100 people injured in the Fredericksburg West High School bombing, number of those dead unknown: