History Main / LeaveNoWitnesses

* ''VideoGame/GoldenEye007Reloaded'' mirrors the film in the Bunker part of the Severnaya mission where Ourumov tells his men to "''leave no survivors''" for the same reason as in the film. Boris Grishenko is absent entirely, but Natalya is instead saved by Bond in this version of the story.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[WebAnimation/TeamFortress2 You left seven witnesses, guys.]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BlueEyeSamurai''. Madame Kaji asks Mizu to MercyKill Kinuyo, who was forced to become the SexSlave of town overlord Hamata. She cautions Mizu to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident and LeaveNotWitnesses, or Hamata will come with his army of gangsters and kill them all. Mizu infiltrates and necksnaps Kinuyo, then arranges the bodies so that it looks like he attacked Kinuyo and she managed to stab him while he strangled her. But when leaving the building she's spotted by a child; already shocked after killing one innocent, she just tells him to run and get the night watchman as two people have just died. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished The child goes directly to Hamata instead.]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 You left seven witnesses, guys.]]]]

* Inverted in ''Series/{{Loki|2021}}'', where it's discovered that Sylvie is hiding her activities across time by doing them in times and locations where disasters killed everyone in the area, With no survivors to be affected by her activities, changes to the timeline don't occur to be picked up by the TVA.

* Inverted in ''Series/{{Loki}}'', where it's discovered that Sylvie is hiding her activities across time by doing them in times and locations where disasters killed everyone in the area, With no survivors to be affected by her activities, changes to the timeline don't occur to be picked up by the TVA.

* Inverted in ''Series/{{Loki}}'', where it's discovered that Sylvie is hiding her activities across time by doing them in times and locations where disasters killed everyone in the area, letting history itself take care of any witnesses.

* [[ProfessionalKiller Anton Chigurh]] from ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'' kills pretty much anybody who can tie him to a crime. The first thing he does after being hired by TheSyndicate is kill all the bosses who saw them, which leads to some others putting out a ContractOnTheHitman. Later on he almost kills a gas station clerk because the guy commented on his license plates (Chigurh murdered the previous owner), although Chigurh acknowledges that this is enough of a stretch that he lets the guy flip a coin for his life. The clerk ends up being one of four people who see his face and don’t get killed for it, the rest simply fortunate enough to be in situations where killing them is more trouble than it’s worth.

* [[ProfessionalKiller Anton Chigurh]] from ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'' kills pretty much anybody who can tie him to a crime. The first thing he does after being hired by TheSyndicate is kill the mooks they sent to hire him, which leads to them putting out a ContractOnTheHitman. Later on he almost kills a gas station clerk because the guy commented on his license plates (Chigurh murdered the previous owner), although Chigurh acknowledges that this is enough of a stretch that he lets the guy flip a coin for his life. The clerk ends up being one of four people who see his face and don’t get killed for it, the rest simply fortunate enough to be in situations where killing them is more trouble than it’s worth.

* ''The Battleship Island:'' During World War 2, the Japanese island of Hashima contains a coal mine staffed by Korean conscripts. Realising that Japan is about to lose the war and that war crime charges are a possibility, the Japanese managers decide to kill all of the Koreans.

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/CrimeDoesNotPay https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leave_no_witnesses_9.jpg]]]]

* ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' (first book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): {{Inverted}}. Szeth is explicitly ordered to leave behind witnesses when he assassinates the governments of various countries, facilitating his master's mission of sowing chaos.

* In ''Literature/ThrawnAscendancyChaosRising'', Thrawn's plan to capture General Yiv involves [[spoiler:an improvised BoardingPod that]] will kill all of Yiv's bridge crew during his escape, because no enemy must know that Yiv was taken ''alive''.

** This is ''probably'' why the Stormtroopers slaughter the Jawas and kill Luke's aunt and uncle in ''Film/ANewHope'', seeing as they are trying to leave evidence that Tusken Raiders did it.
** Likewise, after Darth Vader attacks Leia's ship (a ship containing an emissary of the Galactic Senate), he orders a subordinate, "Send a distress signal, and inform the Senate that all on board were killed." Presumably he wants to make it look like the ship was destroyed by random piracy, and left nobody alive who could contradict that story.

** As part of RewatchBonus, [[spoiler: this was very likely what Black Noir and the rest of Payback actually did against their Contras allies as they betray Soldier Boy to the Russians and Sandinistas, instead of gross incompetence as Mallory initially assumed.]]

** As part of RewatchBonus, [[spoiler: this was very likely what Black Noir and the rest of Payback actually did against their Contras allies as they betray Soldier Boy to the Russians and Sandinistas instead of gross incompetence as Mallory initially assumed.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': In ''Asterix and the Secret Weapon'', Caesar demands that no witnesses be left of the titular secret weapon (since it would not only be seen in Rome as dishonorable but also ridiculous). When pirates threaten the secret ship, the leader announces "Caesar said no witnesses, so NoQuarter!" and just charges through the pirate ship, ripping it [[IncrediblyLamePun in half]] (which conveniently allows the pirates to survive in their rowboat since they didn't see anyone).

* In ''Comicbook/TheSpirit'', two bank robbers take this approach to cover their crime. They don't realize they missed a little girl down the block, who fell down out of fear. The police are a bit peeved.

* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': [[Videogame/PokemonColosseum Team Cipher]] encourages this during their operations.

* In the third Literature/{{Safehold}} book, Merlin is forced to kill a bunch of wounded Temple Loyalists [[spoiler: after foiling an assassination attempt against Sharleyan]] because he can't afford to let people realize he was even there.

* PlayedForLaughs in a DeadPetSketch done on ''Series/MadTV''. The pet-sitter [[http://youtu.be/3iqSIkunnz4 "accidentally" kills his friend's parakeet]] by flinging it to the floor after it bit him, then kills the friend he was house-sitting for during the fight over the police being called. He then accidentally kills his friend's visiting mother while trying to keep her quiet, then kills the cable-guy, the mailman, [[OverlyLongGag the water-delivery man, then calls in a passing jogger]] under [[ContrivedCoincidence increasingly implausible circumstances]]... then finds out that the parrot was [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus just stunned]]. [[NotInFrontOfTheParrot And then proceeds to kill it.]]

** At the death of [[UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun Attila]], the Huns have him buried during the night (for reasons of secrecy) together with treasure of various kinds, and afterwards kill all who were involved with the construction of the tomb as a precaution against grave robbers.

* ''Videogame/HalfLife''. The Marines aren't there to ''rescue'' the scientists. [[VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce Then they find out]] ''they're'' [[NukeEm not high clearance enough]] [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure to be left alive either]], courtesy of the [[ArmiesAreEvil Black Operations]].

* During the Noveria mission in ''VideoGame/MassEffect'', Saren tries to cover up what he's been doing there by having everyone who was involved with the project killed. You arrive just in time to save the last surviving scientist, who asks if he'll get a [[HeKnowsTooMuch "you know too much"]] speech. Indeed this is Saren's ''modus operandi'', as your teammate Wrex can tell you -- he was once hired by Saren, along with a bunch of other mercenaries, to help raid a ship. Something about Saren gave him a bad feeling, so he left without waiting to be paid. In the following months, every other mercenary involved wound up dead.

* In VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Cataclysm, the Goblins fleeing Kezan wind up in a firefight. The humans don't want witnesses, so they blow up the Goblin ship, leaving them shipwrecked on the Lost Isles.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Taken to an extreme in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', the Reach scientist is concerned [[spoiler:when the Reach is finally exposed as invaders and lose their invitation to Earth since it means the Green Lantern Corp will be able to target them. Black Beetle figures there won't be any evidence of a treaty violation if Earth is destroyed. Black Beetle is willing to kill ''billions'' to cover his tracks.]]

** Naked Snake gets told this early on in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater''. Actually doing so is ill-advised, as it makes a later boss fight harder. (It's actually more of a directive to remain unseen, rather than kill everyone)

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': A trio of gangsters decide to kill someone who just happened to overhear their insurance fraud plans, as the timing led them to believe the witness knew even more. Unfortunately for them the witness was [[BoisterousBruiser Etta Candy]], and she'd been in a hurry an willing to just ignore them and instead ends up beating them all unconscious and handing them over to the cops.

* [[Videogame/PokemonColosseum Team Cipher]] encourages this in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' during their operations.
* Invoked in ''Fanfic/ArcadiaOrBust''. When Jim explains to Blinky how they were spotted by teenagers that thought they were conventioneers at a local Horror Convention, Blinky is quick to ask he killed them, only for a bemused Jim to affirm that he didn't.