History Main / ShootTheHostageTaker

* ''Film/FortyEightHrs''. The BigBad is holding Reggie Hammond hostage. Jack Cates is advancing on them with a handgun. Reggie tells him to shoot the bad guy. When Cates does, no one is more shocked than Reggie.
* ''Film/TheAccountant2016''. The title character is at a farm doing some shooting practise. Turns out hitmen are there holding the couple who own the farm at gunpoint. They get tired of waiting for their target, so take the woman out to the porch, with a hitman inside the house pointing a gun at her, and tell her to call out to him to come inside. Unfortunately the rifle the Accountant is using for casual target practise is a scope-mounted .50 Barrett anti-material rifle; he fires a single shot that goes through the wall and obliterates the hitman's head before he can pull the trigger.

* Sonny's partner Sal gets shot this way at the end of ''Film/DogDayAfternoon''.

* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'': After Korben takes out a few of his men, the lead Mangalore holds priest Cornelius hostage and threatens "One more shot, we start killing hostages! Send someone in to negotiate!" Korben's method of "negotiating" is to calmly walk in, BoomHeadshot the leader, then ask "anyone else want to negotiate?" while waving his gun around at the rest.

* Inverted in the 1984 film ''Film/NightOfTheComet'': "I can't have you holding one of my people hostage." [[spoiler: The person who says this line then unexpectedly kills the hostage, a lesser member of his post-apocalyptic gang, instead of the person holding him at gunpoint.]]

* From the desk of Creator/TimothyZahn, the writer who actually allows the Galactic Empire to be competent, we have the standalone Franchise/StarWarsLegends novel ''[[Literature/StarWarsAllegiance Allegiance]]''. HumanShield? Not a problem for a stormtrooper sniper; just shoot past the hostage's ear.

* ''Series/{{Luther}}:'' John allows himself to be taken hostage by the [[MonsterOfTheWeek crime LARPer]] who's hiding in a truck cab with a bomb. He even goes as far as [[RefugeInAudacity dousing himself in gasoline]] to give the criminal the edge. Once he's inside the cab, he radios the police snipers the guy's exact position.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}''

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'':

* The bonus level "Mile High Club" in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' ends with you having to shoot a terrorist using a hostage as a HumanShield. On higher difficulties, you must get a headshot or you fail the mission.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps''. Late in the first mission, Fidel Castro holds his mistress as a hostage. If you shoot Castro, the hostage immediately attacks you. [[spoiler: Turns out the Castro you killed was a body double, and they both are keeping you away from the real Castro.]]

* In ''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo: The 40th Day'', enemies will sometimes use civilians as human shields. You can do this to them, but if you're not careful, it's possible to kill the enemy ''and'' the civilian with the same bullet. Also, your partner can rescue you this way if an enemy holds you hostage.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}: Call of Pripyat'' has one particular side quest in the second map that has you rescuing a captive stalker from a gang of bandits in a holed up warehouse, due to an initial refusal to hand over precious loot to the bandits according to his friends. You can choose to storm the place either [[OneManArmy by yourself]] or with the stalker's known friends and launch the daring rescue. Once you get to the last room in the warehouse, the bandit ringleader has a gun pointed behind the hostage and warns you to not make any sudden moves. At this point, you have the golden opportunity to make a [[BoomHeadshot carefully placed head shot]] on the ringleader; however, you have only three seconds to do it before he pulls the trigger and effectively shoots the hostage dead (and thus failing the quest).

* In the second season of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'', when most of the protagonist's group are taken hostage by Carver and his men, Kenny may try to shoot Carver while he's using one as a HumanShield. Kenny actually ''does'' hit Carver and avoid the hostage, but [[OnlyAFleshWound only gives Carver a shoulder wound he completely ignores]] ([[ButThouMust his actions are literally identical if you never get Kenny to shoot him]]).

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* In April 2009, the American freighter ''Maersk Alabama'' was raided by Somali pirates, who then escaped in a lifeboat and took the ship's captain Richard Phillips hostage when U.S. Navy forces showed up. After 5 days of standoff, members of [[UsefulNotes/NavySEALs DEVGRU]] arrived on-scene to provide sniper support from the Navy destroyer ''USS Bainbridge.'' The ''Bainbridge's'' commanding officer, Captain Frank Castellano, ordered the [=SEALs=] to open fire and kill the three pirates holding Phillips hostage when he saw them aim an AK rifle at Phillips' back. This event was dramatized in the movie ''Film/CaptainPhillips.''

** In "Lair of the Shadow Broker", Tela Vasir takes a civilian hostage with a similar set of options for resolving it. Among them is to have Shepard distract her while Liara throws a gorram ''table'' at her head.

* ''VideoGame/{{SWAT4}}'' has this as the tactic to any suspect who points a gun at a hostage. One of the few times in the game when [[StopOrIWillShoot warning at all]] is a mistake.

* In the adventure/police procedural game ''VideoGame/BlueForce'', there comes a point where a criminal takes a hostage and the opportunity to invoke this trope comes up. However, the PlayerCharacter is a rookie cop and SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome if you take the shot; you hit the hostage by mistake and the criminal immediately shoots you dead.

* In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', at the end of Adam's first mission at the Sarif Manufacturing Plant, Zeke Sanders, the militia's desperate leader, takes the plant's manager Josie Thorpe a hostage and threatens to execute her if Jensen tries to prevent his escape. Among your many options is to shoot Sanders before he can hurt his hostage, though you'll need to be quick on the draw.

* ''Film'RedWolf'' has Alan shooting a terrorist using Christy Chung's character, Lai, as a hostage. In the temple, from [[NoRangeLikePointBlankRange an inch away]].

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has a failure of this in a featurette on the season 5 DVD. Creator/JonHuertas (Esposito on the show) is at a tactical training course (to lend authenticity to his role as a former Green Beret-turned-homicide detective), and during a "storming a hostage standoff" scenario he tries this (with plastic bullets) and hits the hostage in the face before nailing the hostage taker.

'''ocelot:''' Magic!\\

* ''Film/ThePatriot'': Benjamin Martin rescues his son Gabriel from certain execution by slaughtering a band of around twenty British soldiers. The second-to-last soldier tries to use Gabriel as a human shield. Martin, who is wielding a tomahawk, simply takes a second to carefully aim and [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks lobs the axe into the soldier's head.]]

* Played with in ''Film/{{Copycat}}'' (starring Leo de Cap). M.J. shows off the ChekhovsSkill early in the film: shoot the hostage taker in the right place on his shoulder, the nerves go haywire, and they automatically drop the gun. [[spoiler:Later, when she doesn't aim right and doesn't follows up with more shots, she's more or less directly responsible for her co-worker's death because the hostage taker immediately grabs the gun with his ''uninjured'' hand and shoots his hostage.]]

In real life, there are several very good reasons the police don't engage in this when somebody has his hands on the trigger. Putting aside the [[ImprobableAimingSkills difficulty of hitting only the hostage taker]], even an on-target shot may fail to [[InstantDeathBullet incapacitate the criminal fast enough]]. In fact, such a shot can even [[DeadMansTriggerFinger cause them to discharge their weapon]] due to the hostage taker involuntarily squeezing whatever they're holding onto. And if that thing is a gun, [[TakingYouWithMe they may end up shooting the hostage after all]].

** Not only does Ziva shoot a bad guy who took a ChildProdigy hostage, but the prodigy in question even calculates Ziva's chances for success.
** Another, earlier episode starts with the team at a shooting range, practicing for just this manner of situation. Gibbs takes Kate's cell-phone and Tony's hat, and proceeds to place them on the targets as an extra incentive to get it right (the next scene, Kate is working on getting a new cell-phone and Tony's hat has a couple of holes in the bill). At the end of the episode, Kate is forced to shoot a hostage-taker. The hostage is reunited with his wife... with his ear bandaged up, implied to be due Kate 'nearly' hitting him in shooting the hostage-taker.

* In ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', not only does Ziva shoot a bad guy who took a ChildProdigy hostage, but the prodigy in question even calculates Ziva's chances for success.

A villain uses a hostage as a HumanShield to [[PutDownYourGunAndStepAway deter the hero from attacking them and compel the hero to give in to their demands]]. Unfortunately for the villain, a human shield can only protect so much, and areas like the villain's head or arms are still exposed. This allows the hero or a third party to just shoot one of those areas instead ([[BoomHeadshot usually the head]]) and save the hostage anyway. TheGunslinger and the ColdSniper are the most likely to attempt this strategy, whereas the ByTheBookCop usually will not. In real life, there are several very good reasons the police don't engage in this when somebody has his hands on the trigger. Putting aside the [[ImprobableAimingSkills difficulty of hitting only the hostage taker]], even an on-target shot may fail to [[InstantDeathBullet incapacitate fast enough]], and can even ''[[DeadMansTriggerFinger cause]]'' them to discharge their weapon.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. In "Aftermath", Servalan is holding Avon at gunpoint ([[BrandishmentBluff with an empty gun, as it turns out]]), Dayna comes up from behind her with a drawn bow.
-->'''Servalan:''' If she fires, the chances are that I would still pull the trigger. Do you want to risk it?
-->'''Avon:''' [[DeadpanSnarker It's out of my hands.]]

* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'': Harrow does it when [[spoiler:one of Rosetti's men holds Tommy hostage]].

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. While Mal, Zoe and Jayne are trying to make a deal on a moon, an Alliance lawman takes River hostage at gunpoint and tries to arrest her and Simon. When Mal and his group get back, the deal has gone south and [[CannibalClan the Reavers]] have just shown up. So when Dobson tries to repeat his demands, he gets out about half a sentence before Mal walks in and shoots him in the face without even breaking stride. They don't have ''time'' for hostage shenanigans if they want to escape the Reavers, and frankly Mal's about ''done'' with other people's bullshit at this point.
* Combined with ShootTheHostage and OneHitPolykill in the ''Series/BurnNotice'' episode "[[Recap/BurnNoticeS4E12GuiltyAsCharged Guilty as Charged]]". Jesse snipes [[spoiler:Michael]] through the shoulder to kill the guy using him as a HumanShield.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in "Eyes In", in which the SRU can't shoot [[DeadMansTriggerFinger without risking the life of the hostage]], a fact which the hostage-taker is counting on. In this case, Parker bluffs the hostage-taker into believing that the team ''can'' do exactly what they can't (shoot him without risk to the hostage). As soon as he believes the hostage won't protect him, the suspect surrenders and is taken into custody without incident.

* In the ''Series/{{Justified}}'' episode ''The Life Inside'', a criminal takes a pregnant woman hostage.

* Similarly, in the ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode "Holden's Manifesto", Rollins talks the eponymous character into letting his hostages go and is right on the verge of disarming him when the sniper takes him out. She's understandably upset by this turn of events.
** In another episode, "Debt", the police raid a brothel run by a Chinese gang. In one of the rooms, a gang member takes one of the prostitutes hostage and uses her as as a HumanShield. The prostitute is saved when Detective Elliot Stabler dives through the door of the room and shoots the gang member in the head.

* ''Series/{{Lucifer}}''. Chloe Decker does this to the VillainOfTheWeek who's threatening to garotte Lucifer if she doesn't drop her weapon. As Lucifer is being annoying as usual, she claims she was aiming for him and missed.
* ''Series/{{Luther}}:'' John allows himself to be taken hostage by the [[VillainOfTheWeek crime LARPer]] who's hiding in a truck cab with a bomb. He even goes as far as [[RefugeInAudacity dousing himself in gasoline]] to give the criminal the edge. Once he's inside the cab, he radios the police snipers the guy's exact position.

* On ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', not only does Ziva shoot a bad guy who took a ChildProdigy hostage, but the prodigy in question even calculates Ziva's chances for success.
* On ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'', Kensi is being held hostage when Deeks bursts in. The hostage-taker doesn't have time to finish his threat before Deeks drills him through the forehead.
* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "The Acorn Syndrome", Ray Doyle faces off with a kidnapper holding a teenage girl hostage, and does the [[ISurrenderSuckers lower your gun trick]] to get the kidnapper's guard down before raising his pistol and firing.

* In the series 2 premiere of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' Jack Harkness makes his re-introduction by shooting a "blowfish"-like alien who was using a 'human' shield.
* There is a show dedicated to snipers that discusses this. Can't recall the name, but they show off various military world record holders for distance shots and at one point showcased a police officer who made a near-impossible to replicate shot against a robber who took a woman hostage in New York. A simulation (with paint-filled waterballoons strapped to moving dummies) was set up and every single sniper-in-training failed to shoot the hostage-taker (red paint) without also killing the hostage (white paint). Then they got the sniper who made the original shot (now retired) to come to the range. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome He made the shot.]]
* In ''Series/TheMandalorian'''s season 2 finale, an Imperial true believer shuttle pilot takes the cloning engineer Dr. Pershing hostage when the heroes board the disabled Lambda shuttle. After [[BadBoss gunning down his copilot]] [[PunchClockVillain who was trying to surrender]], he decides to start punching Cara Dune's [[DoomedHometown Alderaanian]] [[EarthShatteringKaboom Diaspora]] BerserkButton. He also seems to acknowledge that she's a Rebel [[ItsRainingMen drop]] [[BadassNormal trooper]], not putting two and two together that she would be a proficient pistol markswoman as a corollary. She drills him in the face after she's had enough of his fanatic ranting, with Pershing's ear [[MinorInjuryOverreaction getting singed in the process]].