Talk:List of assassinations

Definition of "assassination"
"Assassination" needs to be clearly defined if this list is to be at all maintainable. As a staring point, I've added the following text to the article:

To expand on those points: I've removed the following entries which don't meet these criteria:
 * Deliberate means that the victim was specifically targeted (excluding, for example, cases of mistaken identity, or random shootings)
 * Premeditated means that the murder was planned, rather than spontaneous or "in the heat of the moment"
 * Often for religious or political reasons – this isn't always the case, but is intended to exclude murders carried out for purely personal reasons, such as revenge against an ex-lover, or a wage dispute

This is all open to discussion, of course, but I felt that the definition I added is broad enough to be non-controversial. We may want to narrow the article's scope further, by specifically excluding lawful executions, military operations, etc, but that will need to be hashed out here on the talk page first. DoctorKubla (talk) 09:39, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

Actually, those are some good examples. But don't forget the conspiracy based assassinations where the case cannot be solved, such as John F Kennedy assassination, Tupac Shakur, and the Notorious BIG assassinations. I'll be undoing anyone who makes conspiracy theory based edits where the cases upon assassination can't be solved.

Vmkcheat (talk) 14:47, 29 July 2013 (UTC) VMKCheat

The list of assassinations by us government outlined in website an excerpt from book Killing Hope in link below would make assassination article more helpful. The assassination list didn't include a list of assassinations by US government. At very least this book should be listed as a reference

http://williamblum.org/chapters/killing-hope/us-government-assassination-plots — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.181.176.44 (talk) 07:51, 31 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Further to this wouldn't a killing like that of Larbi Ben M'hidi for example be considered an extrajudicial killing rather than an assassination? Can someone in state custody be assassinated by agents of that state?-- Boreas74  You'll catch more flies with honey 18:52, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Concerning: Recent Events
As a suggestion, it is proposed that prominent parties of the recent mass shootings (Americas-US State Senators) be included in this list.Habatchii (talk) 12:03, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
 * You'll have to be more specific, but bear in mind that an assassination is a targeted attack; if a notable figure is killed in a mass shooting just because they happened to be there, that's not an assassination. DoctorKubla (talk) 16:36, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Ok. Would this apply if it was stated by witnesses that the murderer in a 'mass shooting' asked specifically for the notable figure beforehand? Also; if the instance is a work in progress with a published manifesto (ulterior motive/related notable targets/acts of war/martyrdom, etc.), how could a distinction be made if it was incidental or intentionally premeditated? Possible references | Habatchii (talk) 14:38, 26 June 2015 (UTC)
 * If it's not clear whether a murder was random or premeditated, then whether to include it on the list is really just a matter of editorial judgement. Personally, I lean towards inclusion in such cases, but other editors may disagree. DoctorKubla (talk) 21:11, 26 June 2015 (UTC)

Split proposed
Split sections to main lists? This has already been done with Europe.--Z oupan 05:47, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Support The section on Africa is long and hard to navigate.Calmecac5 (talk) 00:30, 12 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Support There are. In fact, I think this should be done straight away. –LaundryPizza03 ( d c̄ ) 19:09, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅ Africa. What about the Americas? Should this just be reworked as a list of lists? –LaundryPizza03 ( d c̄ ) 19:44, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

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Add date links
How would folks feel about me linking all of the date fields to their respective date pages? For instance, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_24 or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918. –Tod Robbins (talk) 20:57, 30 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Go for it.Calmecac5 (talk) 00:35, 12 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Not really, refer to WP:OVERLINK.--Darwinek (talk) 00:38, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Assassinations in Iran
The list of assassinations in Iran is missing. This include the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. -- That was a targeted killing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.185.36.230 (talk) 14:08, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

12:43, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

Americas > Jeffrey Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein is included in this list. That is totally unverifiable. Should be deleted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.76.117.81 (talk) 17:50, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

Concern about citations
Hello! I am new to Wikipedia and I am learning how things work. I clicked on a link and it said page not found. I feel like that should be removed or replaced with an article that does exist. --Ewizard123 (talk) 19:51, 6 November 2020 (UTC)

Table formatting mistake?
It looks like all the tables after the one for the United States have been placed in a box of that table instead of as their own separate tables. I'm new here and bad with HTML stuff, so I don't currently know how to fix it. I intend to find out at some point, but feel free to beat me to it. BenevolentChaos347 (talk) 18:55, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
 * The closing |} was missing after the last row in the United States table. See Help:Table for usage instructions. –LaundryPizza<b style="color:#b00">03</b> ( d c̄ ) 19:52, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Pejorative description of a victim
James M. Hinds, U.S. Representative from Arkansas, "Killed by a Ku Klux Klan member as part of intimidation of Republican carpetbaggers" -- Wikipedia describes carpetbagger as a pejorative term. It is not Wikilinked in the note on the victim (quoted here); it's plausible, if only speculative, that the editor wanted to use the term without indicating its pejorative nature. The assassination by a Ku Klux Klan member was part of a campaign of intimidation of Republicans, whether northern or Black, and I have edited the entry to reflect this, as well as Wikilinking Ku Klux Klan. Larry Koenigsberg (talk) 16:21, 8 July 2022 (UTC)

Murders, not assassinations, in US section of the list
Looking through the list of “assassinations” in the US, a huge portion of the list, especially the entries since the 1970s, are not what would traditionally be considered assassinations, but rather murders.

Using Wikipedia’s own definition of Assassination:

“Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person,such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. An assassination may be prompted by political and military motives, or done for financial gain, to avengea grievance, from a desire to acquire fame or notoriety, or because of a military, security, insurgent or secret police group's command to carry out the assassination.”

…many newer entries do not fall under this criteria.

I propose the removal of the following entries from the list:

- Jim Bradley - Leon Burns - Scott La Rock - Ricky Lawless - Rebecca Schaeffer - Danny Rodriguez - Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson - Stretch - Seagram - Phil Hartman - Big L - Jam Master Jay - Camoflauge - Soulja Slim - Mac Dre - Dimebag Darrell - Blade Icewood - Big Hawk - Bryan Pata - VL Mike - XXXTentacion - Young Greatness - Kevin Fret - Nipsey Hussel - PnB Rock - Kirsnick “Takeoff” Ball

A large portion of these are musicians who were murdered, yes, but those murders were not committed to further a cause or avenge a grievance. I do not think they qualify as assassinations. Others, like Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson, as well as Phil Hartman, were absolutely crimes of passion and not assassinations.

If there are no oppositions to these entries being removed, I will remove them in 3 days. Lumiras (talk) 16:34, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

Politician Shot and Killed
This is the header of a story in the St Joseph Gazette, Missouri, 05JAN1905. The Google News Archive article is entirely blanked out as if airbrushed. The category fits, and curiosity is piqued. Link: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hfFbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=31MNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3577%2C4866578 This is Tradutor, I will try to add the proper tildes. Tradutor (talk) 15:12, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

Converge All Tables to Increase Sorting Options
I was hoping to sort this page by chronology irrespective of location, but the location sections make that impossible. Does anyone else think it would be preferable if all the tables were merged into a master table with location being one of the sortable columns, so users could sort by location, or by chronology, whichever they prefer? Or would it be preferable to make a separate article "Timeline of assassinations?" Baltarstar (talk) 20:02, 11 July 2024 (UTC)