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(Don't) take me home.
I'm going off of what you said, that they "act like it was an accident". That implies that they're responding to someone who is criticizing them for missing. In that case it might be Plausible Deniability or Implausible Deniability depending on the character's marksmanship and the conditions of the shot.
It occurs to me that someone could take shots at someone to "keep up appearances" of disregard for life (like a good guy pretending to be an anti-hero or villain), which might fall somewhere in Fame and Reputation Tropes.
Edited by KD
Are you talking about a warning shot? Or someone who throws a shooting contest on purpose...?
Could be Exactly What I Aimed At?
No the character missed on purpose because he didn't want to hit the horse they were riding away on. But he had to keep appearances up.
Looks like some gunshot incidences of what you describe are filed under Firing in the Air a Lot (ie wasting ammo by shooting in the general direction of a target that you can't actually or don't mean to hit)...
Edited by dirkbeen
Is there a trope for a character to miss a target on purpose even if they act like it was an accident?