On a lunch hour in crowded Archer Plaza in Dallas, Texas, a sniper, firing twelve shots, manages to kill six people. The BAU has to figure out if it is a random attack, a targeted attack, a terrorist attack - homegrown or foreign - or even something related to the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of the shooting death of John F. Kennedy. The six unrelated victims were killed in different parts of the plaza, the remaining six bullets splattered elsewhere throughout the plaza, leading to the team initially believing that it was a random attack by someone who was a bad shooter. But the nature of the six killed leads them ultimately to believe that the sniper was indeed an excellent shot, with the six non-fatal bullets being red herrings. They have to look at the backgrounds of the six dead to see who was the intended target or targets. Reid is able to narrow the target list to three, and most likely no more than two, the remaining victims being collateral damage. When a second sniper shooting occurs at a gas station leaving three more dead, the theory that it was a targeted hit is strengthened based on the location of the shooter in relation to the station itself. They have to find a connection between whoever the target(s) in the first shooting to whoever the target(s) in the second shooting to at least find the unsub's motivation. Even if they are able to find the connection, discovering the identity of the actual sniper may be a little more difficult.

The team searches for an Unsub who lobotomised his victim.