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The Horsemen are the main antagonistic organization of the Criminal Minds episode "Ex Parte". The Horsemen are a white nationalist militia responsible for a hostage standoff at the ADLC law firm in the hopes of releasing their leader, Leonard Hagland, only for secrets revealed between them to tear the standoff apart.
Members and Portrayals[]
- Leonard Hagland, portrayed by Harry Groener.
- Josh Martin, portrayed by Nick Fink.
- Jasper Talbot, portrayed by Kylen Deporter.
- Dalton McCann, portrayed by Skyler Maxon.
- Numerous unnamed members, with no portrayals.
Biography[]
The Horsemen are an American militia of white supremacists and arms traffickers. Their founder was Hagland, who was imprisoned and sentenced to death for killing two Virginia state troopers at his home. Before that, Hagland ad a son out of wedlock, Josh Martin, with a Mexican woman named Gabriela. After she gave birth to Martin in America, he was adopted, but he tracked Hagland down when he became an adult and joined the militia, rising its ranks. Martin wanted to inherit Hagland legacy, as well as prevent his execution, so he planned a siege on the ADLC, a DC law firm having tracked the groups activities and engaged in lawsuits against them for years. He recruited Jasper Talbot and Dalton McCann, two military veterans and convicted bank robbers with records in Florida, which is how the militia were impressed by them.
Martin wanted the guards to the law offices killed, but Talbot and McCann only restrained them and stole their equipment and uniforms. Martin had an appointment scheduled as "Roland Cole", and bu the time the three of them made it to the fourth floor offices of the firm, they fired their assault rifles in the air and took several hostages, including Kristy Simmons, wife of FBI Agent Matthew Simmons. Martin went on a lengthy speech about the siege "making history" to get everyone's attention, then made them give up their phones and wired the office with C4 explosives. When Steven Onishi tried to withhold his with a lie, Martin beat him, leading to McCann needing to stop him from killing Steven. Martin then isolated the boss, Lillian Forsythe, telling her he wanted one of her employees speaking with the FBI agents responding. When she, a woman of color, realized who the group was, she refused to encourage him, and he shot her dead. Lillian was sent down an elevator to the agents, Martin telling them on her phone he'd kill a hostage every fifteen minutes if Leonard Hagland wasn't released. He ended up shooting Ian Watt and sending him down the elevator.
Hagland was brought to FBI headquarters and questioned. He was unresponsive to the agents' questions, and he refused to acknowledge the standoff or his connections to Martin. Kristy used a phone to get footage of the standoff to the agents, which identified McCann and Talbot. The agents knew Martin and Hagland were son and father, and Hagland reluctantly confirmed this. He also taunted the agents by saying they needed him to save the remaining hostages and speak to Martin. McCann and Talbot were slowly pulling away from Martin, who became much more impatient and unstable. Wen he found Kristy's phone after she and Eric Alton argued, he nearly killed Alton from believing he was the mole. Kristy confessed, so Martin was prepared to shoot her on live video feed. Kristy had an earpiece connecting to the agents, so they told her to turn them on each other, by saying McCann and Talbot didn't kill the guards and that Martin was mixed race. Talbot was furious and made a racist insult against Martin, who shot him in reaction and threatened McCann into not turning on him.
Agent Simmons, by that point, went rogue and breached the office, shooting McCann and getting into a lengthy fight with Martin over the bombs' detonator. Simmons got the upper hand and nearly killed Martin from a chokehold, but Kristy convinced him to stop. Martin was arrested, and Hagland was returned to death row.
Trivia[]
- The Horseman's siege and standoff is inspired by the 1977 Washington, D.C., siege, where three public buildings were the locations of armed standoffs with Hamaas Abdul Khaalis and members of the Hanafi Movement.
