Benjamin Nathaniel Smith

Benjamin Nathaniel Smith (March 22, 1978 – July 4, 1999) was a spree killer who targeted members of racial and ethnic minorities in random drive-by shootings in Illinois and Indiana, USA during the weekend of July 4, 1999. Smith was born and raised in Illinois. He grew up in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette and attended New Trier High School in Winnetka. He did not pose for a photograph in his senior yearbook, but in his class statement he wrote, "Sic semper tyrannis" (Thus always to tyrants). This phrase was allegedly shouted by John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. After graduating, Smith attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Smith dropped out of the university in 1998 after several...