History ShootTheHostage / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': In Season 4 at the end of the midseason cliffhanger Michael goes to confront Barrett. He is being held hostage by one of Barrett's men and Jesse shoots through Micheal to kill the man. The shot and following car crash put Micheal in the hospital. He is suffering from his injuries for several episodes of season 4.5.

* ''Series/TheEqualizer'': Robert [=McCall=] is holding a gun to the head of a DoubleAgent, and offers to swap him for one of his men being held prisoner by a KGB cell. The head of the cell replies, "Let me explain the ground rules" and shoots the double agent dead. Caught without his human shield, [=McCall=] is then taken prisoner too.

* ''{{Demons}}'': In the first episode, the protagonist is instructed to shoot his ([[ShesNotMyGirlfriend not]]) girlfriend with magic ammunition, which he is told will only bruise her at worst, but will disintegrate the monster holding her captive. He complies, and after that, she's pissed at how little hesitation it took for him to shoot.

* ''{{Lost}}'': Variant: the episode "Enter 77". Kate and Sayid are holding Mrs. Klugh, who responds by ''ordering Mikhail to shoot her dead'', which he does.
* ''{{NCIS}}'': [[spoiler: Agent Lee got Gibbs to shoot through her to take out the Weatherman]].

* ''RizzoliAndIsles'': Played with in a particularly nasty fashion. Since it's the {{Cliffhanger}} season finale, spoilered: [[spoiler: Jane herself is the hostage. She is determined not to let her CorruptCop captor escape. She grabs his gun and ''shoots through herself'' to kill him.]] Black screen, end credits. To be continued.
* ''{{Spooks}}'': Where [[spoiler: Ros Myers shoots through fellow officer Jo to kill a terrorist. Jo dies too.]]

* ''{{Chuck}}'': Bryce did it when Chuck was being held hostage. He did make sure Chuck was wearing a BulletProofVest first, though... by asking him in Klingon.

* ''BurnNotice'': In Season 4 at the end of the midseason cliffhanger Michael goes to confront Barrett. He is being held hostage by one of Barrett's men and Jesse shoots through Micheal to kill the man. The shot and following car crash put Micheal in the hospital. He is suffering from his injuries for several episodes of season 4.5.

* ''{{Fringe}}'': In the episode "Entrada" Peter shot hostage held by a Fauxlivia. That's because he figured out (s)he was a shape-shifter.

* ''Series/{{The 100}}'': When a Mountain Man holds a knife to Lincoln's throat and uses him as a human shield, Clarke shoots both of them: [[ImprobableAimingSkills her bullet passes through Lincoln's shoulder and hits the Mountain Man in the chest]], killing the MountainMan and leaving Lincoln with OnlyAFleshWound.

* ''Series/{{The 100}}'': When a Mountain Man holds a knife to Lincoln's throat and uses him as a human shield, Clarke shoots both of them: [[ImprobablyAimingSkills her bullet passes through Lincoln's shoulder and hits the Mountain Man in the chest]], killing the MountainMan and leaving Lincoln with OnlyAFleshWound.

* A variation in ''Series/{{Defiance}}'': The hostage is a wanted criminal, the hostage taker is Nolan's old army buddy turned bounty hunter. Nolan settles their stand-off over who gets custody of the bad guy by shooting him in the head. His buddy is not amused.
* In the first episode of ''Hostages'', Dylan Macdermott's character does this. [[spoiler: The hostage was actually the hostage taker, having switched clothes with the hostage.]]
* Implied as a threat in the short-lived series, Boomtown. A corrupt cop is exposed and takes the widely-hated internal affairs investigator hostage. One of the cops points this out and mentions that nobody would be particularly troubled in the investigator got shot in a firefight.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Season 6 reveals that soulless Sam once shot a woman being used as a HumanShield by a monster he was hunting. Once she falls over dead, he then kills the monster.

* ''StargateAtlantis'': Genii commander Colya, after being forced to abandon Atlantis, takes Weir hostage and tries to goad Sheppard into shooting them both. Unfortunately for him, the Atlantis team has much more accurate guns, and Sheppard calmly puts a bullet right through Colya's shoulder.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'': InvertedTrope in the episode "Which Prue Is It, Anyway?", when [[ItMakesSenseInContext Prue's duplicate]] tries to make the warlock of the week surrender his weapon by holding his ally hostage. He instead kills his ally before killing the Prue duplicate.

* ''TheEqualizer'': Robert [=McCall=] is holding a gun to the head of a DoubleAgent, and offers to swap him for one of his men being held prisoner by a KGB cell. The head of the cell replies, "Let me explain the ground rules" and shoots the double agent dead. Caught without his human shield, [=McCall=] is then taken prisoner too.

* ''{{Fringe}}'': In the episode "Entrada" Peter shot hostage held by Fauxlivia. That's because he figured out (s)he was a shape-shifter.

* ''BurnNotice'': In Season 4 at the end of the midseason cliffhanger Micheal goes to confront Barrett. He is being held hostage by one of Barrett's men and Jesse shoots through Micheal to kill the man. The shot and following car crash put Micheal in the hospital. He is suffering from his injuries for several episodes of season 4.5.

* Constable Bob saves Raylan's life this way in a stabbing variation in ''{{Justified}}''. While Bob is lying on the ground, the perpetrator uses a teenage girl as a hostage in order to get Raylan to drop his gun and then aims at Raylan, at which point Bob stabs the hostage in the foot, causing her to fall and drag him down with her.

* In {{Fringe}} episode "Entrada" Peter shot hostage held by Fauxlivia. That's because he figured out (s)he was a shape-shifter.
* Variant: the ''{{Lost}}'' episode "Enter 77". Kate and Sayid are holding Mrs. Klugh, who responds by ''ordering Mikhail to shoot her dead'', which he does.
* In ''StargateAtlantis'', Genii commander Colya, after being forced to abandon Atlantis, takes Weir hostage and tries to goad Sheppard into shooting them both. Unfortunately for him, the Atlantis team has much more accurate guns, and Sheppard calmly puts a bullet right through Colya's shoulder.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': During a shoot-out on a [[PlanetOfHats Wild West planet]], T'Pol gets a six-shooter put to her head. Reed shrugs, shoots her, then the hostage taker while he's still gaping at Reed's apparently ruthless action. His phase pistol is [[StunGuns set on stun]].
* At the end of the first season of ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' when the BigBad staying at an accomplice's house Jack Bauer takes the daughter of the host hostage and demand that everyone [[PutDownYourGunAndStepAway drop their guns]]. [[spoiler:Victor Drazen]] merely smiles and shoots her. Her father is understandably upset about this, but at this point [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he has outlived his usefulness]].
* Bryce did it when Chuck was being held hostage on ''{{Chuck}}''. He did make sure Chuck was wearing a BulletProofVest first, though... by asking him in Klingon.
* ''{{NCIS}}''. [[spoiler: Agent Lee got Gibbs to shoot through her to take out the Weatherman]].
* In the first episode of ''{{Demons}}'', the protagonist is instructed to shoot his ([[ShesNotMyGirlfriend not]]) girlfriend with magic ammunition, which he is told will only bruise her at worst, but will disintegrate the monster holding her captive. He complies, and after that, she's pissed at how little hesitation it took for him to shoot.
* ''TheEqualizer''. Robert [=McCall=] is holding a gun to the head of a DoubleAgent, and offers to swap him for one of his men being held prisoner by a KGB cell. The head of the cell replies, "Let me explain the ground rules" and shoots the double agent dead. Caught without his human shield, [=McCall=] is then taken prisoner too.
* In the Australian mini-series of ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' an attempt by convicts to escape ends with a sergeant being held hostage, facing a small cannon aimed by his fellow marines. The sergeant orders them to light the fuse and kill them all. Realising he's not bluffing, the convicts are forced to surrender.
* From ''{{Spooks}}'', where [[spoiler: Ros Myers shoots through fellow officer Jo to kill a terrorist. Jo dies too.]]
* Played with in a particularly nasty fashion on ''RizzoliAndIsles''. Since it's the {{Cliffhanger}} season finale, spoilered: [[spoiler: Jane herself is the hostage. She is determined not to let her CorruptCop captor escape. She grabs his gun and ''shoots through herself'' to kill him.]] Black screen, end credits. To be continued.
* The leader of a gang of [[TheMafiya Russian gangsters]] intimates that he'd do it on an episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' after Eliot uses one of his men as a human shield:
-->'''Hardison:''' You going to shoot through your man?
-->'''Russian Gangster:''' To be honest with you, I never liked him anyway.
* Season 6 of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' reveals that soulless Sam once shot a woman being used as a HumanShield by a monster he was hunting. Once she falls over dead, he then kills the monster.
* Inverted in the ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' episode "Which Prue Is It, Anyway?", when [[ItMakesSenseInContext Prue's duplicate]] tries to make the warlock of the week surrender his weapon by holding his ally hostage. He instead kills his ally before killing the Prue duplicate.
** Invoked by Piper in "The Day the Magic Died." She's in labor, a demon has a knife to her throat, and Phoebe is reluctant to vanquish him. Piper, desperate to save her baby, begins to tell Phoebe to forget about her and vanquish him to save the baby, or as Piper so delicately put it, "Phoebe, if you love me, you will send this crazy bastard straight to hell!"
* In Season 4 of ''BurnNotice'' at the end of the midseason cliffhanger Micheal goes to confront Barrett. He is being held hostage by one of Barrett's men and Jesse shoots through Micheal to kill the man. The shot and following car crash put Micheal in the hospital. He is suffering from his injuries for several episodes of season 4.5.
** Sam and Fi think, at first, that Jesse deliberately shot Michael, as he has recently found out that Michael is the one who accidentally got him burned. It's possible it ''may'' have been a little of that.
* There was a variation in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' in which Kate Lockley ''staked'' the hostage. She angled the stake upwards and rammed it through Angel's stomach so as to be fatal to Angel's captor while merely very painful to Angel. Angel didn't realise she was taking care not to kill him.

* In season 4 of ''Series/{{Justified}}'' Constable Bob Sweeney ends up stabbing a hostage in the foot with his knife which surprised everyone so much that Raylan was able to disarm the hostage taker. It is unclear whether this was on purpose or whether he stabbed the wrong foot since Bob just suffered a GroinAttack and was not seeing straight. This was a deliberate ShoutOut to ''Film/{{Speed}}'' since series executive producer Graham Yost was also the screenwriter for ''Speed''.
* A totally horrible example comes in ''Series/LawAndOrder'' when an escaped convict holds a classroom full of students before anything can be done, he shoots all of the hostages in the room. His reason "Why not".