If you’ve ever wondered about something private, controversial, or outright bizarre, Reddit is the place to go. The forums cover all kinds of subjects that might not come up in casual conversation but that people might be curious about. The Ask Reddit sub is a goldmine of information. You could doomscroll for hours and consistently learn about things you didn’t even know existed. Someone recently posted asking for people who’ve legally killed someone to tell their stories. The answers are not only fascinating but sometimes terrifying. We definitely had some favorites.
Sometimes the death happens so quickly that people don’t even realize it.
One Redditor told a story about being attacked by a man at a party. Instinctively, the victim punched the man, knocking him to the ground. He hit his head and that was the end.
“It happened so fast it doesn’t feel real, I was just defending myself so I can’t say I feel guilty, but it feels weird, It’s so easy to lose your life. I wasn’t trying to kill him. I just responded to his attack out of reflex,” the person wrote. “I never thought something like that would happen. Do yourselves a favor and don’t start fights, because life is more fragile than you think.”
One person had a similar experience but as a teenager. “I paralyzed someone in a high school football scrimmage and they later died (years later) from complications resulting from the paralysis. I became friends of the family and they have emphasized over and over again that it was not my fault but I still feel guilt and it weighs on me,” the person wrote.
“It’s legal in the sense that I never got caught and it’s been long enough now that they couldn’t convict me. My uncle began forcing himself on me when I was about 4. Left me with a lot of trauma, anger issues and episodes of mania,” another commenter shared. “He also lived within walking distance of my house at the time. When I was about 13, one day in a manic episode, I grabbed the aluminum bat I kept in my room from when I played baseball and walked over to his house. I beat him with that bat until it bent.
“He survived that beating somehow but his injuries lead to an extended hospital stay which lead to getting addicted to painkillers,” the person continued. “The drugs eventually caused him to have a massive heart attack. So while not directly responsible, I started the chain of events that lead to him dying.”
Many people have killed others in innocent car accidents.
One person’s friend accidentally hit a child who ran in front of the car to get a ball.
“The kid was just not paying attention to the street and did it without thinking. The driver was not at fault at all. There’s no way she could have stopped,” the person explained. “It messed her up very badly.”
These kinds of accidents sometimes appear suspicious until a witness comes forward. One person’s dad hit someone on a dark road one night who appeared out of nowhere.
“The cops were about to arrest him when another driver returned to the scene and let them know the same guy jumped out in front of their car, but they were able to swerve out of the way,” the Redditor explained. “He never really got over it. Had nightmares all his life. Not only are people who do this not caring about how the driver will feel, but also that they could go to jail over it. Such a horrible thing to do.”
Some admitted to killing people as an act of mercy.
One Redditor couldn’t face watching a sick brother suffer any longer, so the person did something drastic.
“My brother was dying and I deliberately OD’d him on dilaudid. The hospice nurse pretty much left me set up to do it. He was in so much pain,” the commenter explained. “I think about it a lot, and I do believe I did the right thing. But sometimes I look at his daughter and the guilt comes at me.”
When a parent has to choose when to end their ailing child’s life, it’s a gut-wrenching decision we hope we never to have to face.
“I had to make the decision to shut off my (10 y/o) son’s ventilator when he was dying from complications of his genetic neuromuscular disease. He was on hospice. I held his hand the whole time and felt his heart stop,” a parent wrote. “This was in 2022. It haunts me every single day. I have nightmares and panic attacks.”
No matter what the circumstances, killing a person had an effect on nearly every person who spoke out on Reddit. Whether it was an accident or the effect of being pragmatic, knowing you had a hand in ending someone’s life inevitably sits with you. Forever.
