They wandered around the parking lot for another few minutes, studying the placement of the cones from where they were, trying to pinpoint the location the unsub could've taken the shots from. "This handicapped spot couldn't be further away from the entrance to the building," Hotch pointed out discretely, his hands set on his hips.

They all moved over to join him where he was standing in the handicap spot over the logo. "Yeah?" Morgan murmured in an equally quiet tone. They took a glance round.

"It also has line of sight to all 3 victims and the flagpole," Hotch confirmed.

"What are you thinking?" Jodi  murmured, shifting her weight to her prosthetic legs before moving it to the other, raking a hand through her hair to get it out of her face.

"At this range, the unsub would have to factor in wind direction and speed as he shot," Hotch explained easily. "To do this, he needed a spot with the widest field of fire and line of sight to the flagpole. He came here before the shooting, decided this was his spot...and ensured that it would be empty when he came back." He paced out to the edge of the spot, then nodded in confirmation to his idea. "My guess is he's shooting from his car."

"Well, that would mean he wanted to get away from here quickly," Morgan expanded thoughtfully, his brows furrowing in concentration as he thought about it. "That he didn't stick around to watch his victims suffer."

"So he would not be a sadist," Spencer concluded.

"Definitely not," Jodi shook her head in agreement.

Detective Calvin watched the four of them with raised brows. "What would he be?"

"A very smart, very resourceful, very paranoid sociopath," Hotch responded gravely.

After spending a few more minutes at the park in order to solidify their belief in the theory they had going, they headed back to the Des Plaines police department to look over the evidence boards the officers had built.

As they began reading, Morgan left to answer a call from Garcia, which made her smile because she adored their friendship. But Detective Calvin walked up to them from her desk for an update, and she immediately felt her mood darken. They'd gotten a phone call from JJ explaining a theory Gideon had about the shooter potentially being a police officer due to his extensive knowledge on how the law enforcement was operating.

"We think the shooter has intimate knowledge of law enforcement procedures," Hotch explained to her grimly.

Spencer cleared his throat. "Detective Calvin, how far out of your jurisdiction was crime scene number 2?"

"About a sixth of a mile," she answered with a confused frown. "Why?"

Spencer glanced over at Jodi with a slight twist of his mouth, and she nodded encouragingly at him. "If he knew how difficult it is for local police departments to interact with each other...he may have intentionally crossed jurisdiction lines."

Detective Calvin's jaw dropped fractionally. "Y'all are sayin' the shooter's a cop," she realized in a whisper.

"We're saying it's a possibility," Jodi corrected her carefully, lips rolling inwards.

"He scouted and prepped each crime scene," Hotch explained in agreement. "He chose and elevated position with excellent enfilade and perfect field of fire."

"That's textbook military practice," she countered, raising her brows.

"True," he nodded.

"Yeah, but maybe he was in the army," she defended her officers, and Jodi could understand why.

It was never easy to accuse one of your own people of murder.

"He was probably a marine, ranger or other specialized unit," Morgan cut in, having hung up with his phone call. "Garcia says the bullet was a.223 fired from the m-4 variant of the m-16."

"All the services use an m-4," Spencer frowned.

"It's got a shorter barrel than the m-16, it's less accurate, and it's a lot harder to fire, especially at these distances," Morgan continued on. "This level of skill indicates specialized training."

"He would know what he's doing, then," Jodi frowned. "The shot's would be specifically placed to land where he wanted them to."

"He intended to wound them," Hotch agreed.

Morgan sighed. "The underkill is deliberate."

"Everything he does is deliberate, but it's as if he needs to show us how smart he is," Hotch huffed slightly.

Morgan raised his brows and exhaled a breath. "Since the crime scenes aren't centered around one single location, Garcia can't get a geographic profile without additional data."

"What kind of data?" Detective Calvin frowned.

Jodi grimaced. "More crime scenes."

"She's gonna get 'em," Hotch promised tiredly. "This guy's got something to prove."

Not even two hours later, there was a fourth shooting.

It was at the outdoor patio of a popular local a restaurant, and there were several casualties but so far no fatalities, which Jodi was unbelievably thankful for. While Gideon and Elle went to the scene, the rest stayed behind the put together everything they had about the profile so they could announce it to the Des Plaines officers and them alone.

Once they had everyone gathered in the bullpen with all exits closed off so no one from the public could hear, JJ kicked it off. "This initial profile is not ready to be given to the media," she enforced, her expression relaying the seriousness of what she was saying. "Releasing this profile prematurely can get people killed."

Then she stepped aside to let Hotch take over.

"We're looking for a 30 to 40-year-old male veteran, driving a car large enough to shoot from, but not so large it was noticed," he announced. "Like the beltway shooter, it's probably a sedan, customized to conceal the shooter, his weapon, and the sound of his shot." There was a pause as he took in a breath. "The unsub suffers from both narcissistic and paranoid personality disorders. He works out obsessively and is never without a weapon. He's completely self-centered and cannot empathize with others.

"Incapable of admitting fault, he blames his shortcomings on those around him. He has no friends, and his career history has been marked by frequent job changes. He's drawn to high-stakes jobs by a need to prove his superiority to a world he perceives has undervalued him, and these shootings are the ultimate expression of that need." He took a moment for that to sin in, then relayed the difficult information. "We believe he changes jurisdictions intentionally and strikes during the first/second shift change, indicating and intimate knowledge of law enforcement."

"You're saying he's one of us," an officer scoffed, his voice clearly full of disbelief.

"We're saying he once was or is now a police officer," Hotch confirmed evenly.

"Is he driving a white van, too," another officer snickered, causing Jodi to narrow her eyes at him.

But a higher-ranking officer stepped in before anyone on the team had the chance to say anything. "Enough," he bellowed, and the room fell into silence. "That'll be all for now. We can talk in my office."

"Thank you," Hotch addressed the room with a forced polite smile and the rest of the team mirrored.

Then, while him and JJ went in to talk to Sargent Weigart about to a reenactment at the park, the rest of the team branched out to do their own thing until they had to leave. The very first thing Jodi did was wander out to the kitchen to refill her travel mug since she'd emptied it on the flight, as well as finished her muffin.

It didn't take long for them to get the okay for the reenactment, which she guessed was because of JJ's superior liaison skills. She rode to the park with Spencer, Hotch and Morgan, and ignored Morgan's constant teasing about how she always had to stick with Spencer, which led to Hotch 'grounding' her out of sheer exasperation.

But when they arrived, the seriousness fell back into place and she made sure to stick as close to Spencer as she could in, since pairing them together was the way things usually went.

"Elle, Jerry Littleton was facing a little further south," Hotch instructed over their set of Walkie-Talkies. "Can you give us that?"

He was standing at the fake handicap parking spot with a car and an officer standing for the unsub to test the victim's line of vision for possible witnesses. Everyone was spaced out where the cones had been earlier day, equipped with cameras so that JJ, Gideon, Detective Calvin and Sargent Weigart could watch from within the confines of a police van parked a few spots away from the fake handicap spot.

"How's that?" Elle's voice crackled.

"Perfect. Hold your camera right there."

"It doesn't look like Jerry Middleton had a clear view of the sniper's vehicle when he was shot," Gideon concluded from within the van. "The tree branches were in the way."

"Gah," she muttered with a small pout, causing Spencer to roll his eyes and held his hand out for the Walkie.

"I do have a clear view of the vehicle from here," he announced once he had it. "Tim Reilly would have seen it if he'd looked down from the kite."

"Good," Gideon's voice garbled through the line. "Have the unsub pop the trunk. See if Reid and McCoy can see it."

"Anything?" She asked him softly while taking the Walkie back.

He shook his head.

"No, sorry Gideon," she responded with a slight shake of her head.

"Nothing from position one," he then concluded.

"Ok, everyone, move to position 2," Hotch instructed.

They did as they were told and wandered across the field still holding onto the Walkie and camera, waiting to be told what to do next. As they wandered, Jodi started humming to herself which soon turned into singing to herself under her breath. "Well I need a sugar daddy, he could be my friend, and if I needed money, I know he would lend me, lend me a hand," she muttered to herself, not realizing she was pressing down on the talk button.

"What was that you need, McCoy?" Morgan's voice crackled, ands he immediately cursed herself.

"A sugar daddy, apparently," she shot back sarcastically, though her cheeks did flush a little bit. "And just for the record, I'm not actually requesting a sugar Daddy, I'm just singing Fleetwood Mac."

"Yeah, okay."

"Morgan, I'm gonna have to politely ask you to shhhhhhhh." Then she lifted her finger from the talk button, and turned to look at Spencer sincerely. "You sure you don't want me to kill him?"

"Yeah, Jodi, I'm sure," he chuckled.

She glanced around them casually out of boredom while she waited for further instructions, but frowned when she noticed Gideon, JJ and Detective Calvin walking up the sidewalk, and her two team members on  the phone along with Morgan and Elle. Remembering she left her cellphone in her go bag at the precinct she cursed quietly to herself. "What do you think's going on?" She asked discretely, taking another glance around them.

Before spencer even had the chance to answer, she heard Morgan hiss out a quiet, "get down, both of you," and then they were both being pulled down to the ground.

Without a moment's hesitation, Jodi threw herself in front of Spencer propped up on her right shoulder so her back was to the parking lot and she was facing him, and felt Morgan grab the back of her shirt and drag the two of them behind the nearest tree.

When she was sure they were safe, she moved out of Spencer's way and hovered behind the two of them. "What the hell is happening?" She hissed out to him.

"McCarty might be the unsub," Morgan answered in a hushed tone, glancing back at her once before returning his gaze to the car.

Jodi's eyes snapped up to the parking lot. "You mean the same McCarty we gave a gun to and put in the back of a trunk," she whispered back, and he nodded.

But McCarty was safely dragged out of the trunk and handcuffed, to which she let out a sigh of relief. It was short lived, however, as a sharp whizz echoed through the park, he crumbled to the ground, and one of the SWAT members that had been escorting him over to the police van cried out shot's fired.

She was yanked forwards and shoved closer to the tree and down to the ground by Morgan, causing her to bump into Spencer's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she choked out immediately, knowing how he didn't like to be touched. But he just shook his head, and she felt Morgan hover over both of them.