Execution-style murder

An execution-style murder, also known as execution-style killing, a "gang style", or "kill shot" is an act of criminal murder where the perpetrator kills at close range a conscious victim who is under the complete physical control of the assailant and who has been left with no course of resistance or escape. Its name comes from such murders being similar to the usual meaning of execution, which is the taking of life by due process of law. Execution-style killing is most often a live bullet to the brain or heart, and victims are sometimes killed while kneeling. The terminology may derive from the process of binding the victim and killing them at close range while conscious. Some thrill killings have variously been described as execution-style murders. From Wikipedia