The following contains discussions of sensitive topics including sexual assault, child abuse, suicide, stillborn birth, military engagement, and police-involved shootings.
Zombie apocalypse stories like The Walking Dead are always fascinating. Watching how normal people change when there is suddenly no longer a social structure and forms of government to shape how they live. For many characters, one of the sharpest deviations from their pre-apocalyptic selves is the thought of taking a life. Even in the post-apocalypse, there are characters like Glenn Rhee or Victor Strand who tried to avoid doing so and struggled when they finally did.
On the flip side, there are a few select characters who have killed someone before Walkers began roaming. It’s not always for inherently evil reasons. This could have been accidental, self-defense, through military service, or it could be argued as justifiable homicide. Which Walking Dead characters have killed someone before the zombie apocalypse?
10Shane Walsh Shot The Man Who Put Rick Grimes In A Comatose State
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: At least one
Series
The Walking Dead
Actor
Jon Bernthal
Debut
“Days Gone By” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Survive the series?
No
Cause of Death
Shot by Carl Grimes
# of Episodes
21
Shane Walsh has the honor of being one of the first noteworthy characters to take a life both before and during the apocalypse. His selfish sacrifice of Otis was a pivotal moment on the Greene Farm as it signaled the deterioration of morals once held dear. However, it was a flashback scene that helped chart the course for his entire character arc and the series itself.
In the flashback, Shane, a police officer, is having lunch in his cruiser with his partner, Rick Grimes and the two have an awkward conversation about the difference between men and women. During that conversation, the pair were called into action for a police pursuit. Shane and Rick lay out a spike strip, which leads to the chased vehicle crashing in a nearby field. Emerging from the crashed vehicle, a perpetrator exits and immediately begins firing. Shane, Rick, and other officers kill the man and an accomplice. However, a third man emerges and shoots Rick, leading to his series-starting comatose state and opening the door for Shane’s affair with Rick’s wife, Lori. After Rick was shot, Shane directly killed the third perpetrator before assisting Rick.
9Madison Clark Killed Her Abusive Father When She Was Young
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: One
Series
Fear the Walking Dead
Actor
Kim Dickens
Debut
“Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Survive the series?
Yes
# of Episodes
53
Madison Clark has one of the most tragic pre-apocalyptic stories in The Walking Dead Universe. One of her three children was born stillborn. Her eldest child, Nick, had struggled with drug addiction. Her husband, Steven Clark, committed suicide by driving into oncoming traffic. That doesn’t even cover her childhood.
Madison was the daughter of a local senator. Behind closed doors was a home full of abuse thanks in part to her father’s alcoholism. Madison and her mother lived in fear of her abusive father. Eventually, when Madison was older, she shot her father to protect herself and her mother. Madison tells this to Nick and her daughter Alicia at Broke Jaw Ranch before attempting to talk Jeremiah Otto into killing himself to end the conflict with Qaletaqa Walker. However, Nick shoots Jeremiah instead so he can carry the weight of his death instead of his mother.
8Jeremiah Otto Had A Very Sinister Past
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: Three
Series
Fear the Walking Dead
Actor
Dayton Callie
Debut
“Wrath” (Season 2, Episode 14)
Survive the series?
No
Cause of Death
Shot by Nick Clark
# of Episodes
8
Jeremiah’s conflict with the Walker family and the Hopi Tribe spanned decades before the apocalypse and is the central conflict of the fantastic third season of Fear the Walking Dead. The Otto family built Broke Jaw Ranch and one of the services they provide is survivalist supplies in case civilization crumbled. This ranch led to a conflict with the Black Hat Reservation in part because many members of the Hopi Tribe had been buried at that location.
Of course, this conflict isn’t just a misunderstanding. Jeremiah holds racist and white supremacist views and has a longstanding detestment for the Hopi Tribe. When Qaltaqa’s father, uncle, and other members of the tribe entered Broke Jaw Ranch to vandalize it, Jeremiah, Vernon Trimbol, Russell Brown, and Phil McCarthy, the “founding fathers” of the ranch, killed them. Jeremiah has skulls from his and his companion’s victims under the floorboard of his house. Throughout Season 3, each of the four responsible would meet their own end ultimately concluding the conflict and later Broke Jaw Ranch itself.
7Alpha Also Killed Her Father When She Was Younger
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: One
Series
The Walking Dead & Tales of the Walking Dead
Actor
Samantha Morton
Debut
“Adaptation” (Season 9, Episode 9)
Survive the series?
No
Cause of Death
Throat slit by Negan
# of Episodes
19 (The Walking Dead) + 1 (Tales of the Walking Dead)
Despite being from different series, Alpha and Madison share a similar parallel – their fathers. Both of their fathers shaped their respective childhoods, and that in many ways influenced both their approach to parenthood and the apocalypse itself. Madison tries hard to maintain her humanity while Alpha takes on the leadership role of the primitive Whisperers.
In Tales of the Walking Dead, the third episode, “Dee,” provides some backstory on Alpha. Among the revelations was that when she was nine, she killed her father. The circumstances behind that killing weren’t elaborated on beyond Alpha’s statement that it was deserved. In the years since Alpha grew to value strength and survival while coming to embrace the new world. This shaped Alpha into the woman who would kill her husband, Frank, early in the apocalypse along with numerous others over the years including her daughter Lydia’s boyfriend, Henry Sutton.
6Beta Killed A Home-Invader Just Before The World Went Downhill
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: One
Series
The Walking Dead
Actor
Ryan Hurst
Debut
“Guardians” (Season 9, Episode 12)
Survive the series?
No
Cause of Death
Devoured by Walkers after being stabbed in the eye by Daryl Dixon
# of Episodes
14
Where Alpha went, Beta wasn’t far behind. Loyal to the end, Beta provided muscle as a towering force for the Whisperers. Before the apocalypse, however, Beta was a renowned country musician, whose posters and music have since become an Easter egg across The Walking Dead Universe. This is in contrast to The Walking Dead comics where he was a professional basketball star turned actor. His stardom was one of the reasons he almost always kept his face covered.
Not long before the outbreak, Beta killed a home invader. Afterward, he noticed the home invader was wearing a “Half Moon” shirt, about one of his works. Not much else is known about the incident, but for Beta, who had already been going through rehabilitation, it could not have been easy regardless of what the home invader’s intentions were.
5John Dorie Accidentally Killed A Man, And It Stuck With Him For Years
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: One
Series
Fear the Walking Dead
Actor
Garret Dillahunt
Debut
“What’s Your Story?” (Season 4, Episode 1)
Survive the series?
No
Cause of Death
Shot by Dakota
# of Episodes
30
John Dorie is one of the best characters in The Walking Dead Universe. He’s kind and gentle and an incredibly easy character to root for. His death in Season 6 of Fear the Walking Dead is easily one of the most heartbreaking within any Walking Dead show. John Dorie is the sixth in a long line of John Dories and he followed his father’s footsteps in becoming a police officer. All the while, he worked at a rodeo club where he performed with his trick-shooting abilities.
John’s life changed after confronting an attempted gas station robber one night after a show. After a scuffle, John accidentally shoots the would-be-robber in the leg. The man later bled out. John was celebrated by his community for his actions, but he struggled to see himself as a hero. He felt terrible for the man’s death. Afterward, John became more secluded and swore off using guns, which complicated matters in the apocalypse.
4Theodore Maddox Was Already A Cult Leader And A Serial Killer Before The Apocalypse
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: At least 20
Series
Fear the Walking Dead & Fear the Walking: Dead in the Water (Webisode)
Actor
John Glover
Debut
“The Holding” (Season 6, Episode 11)
Survive the series?
No
Cause of Death
Shot by Dakota
# of Episodes
6 + 1 Webisode
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After John’s death, John’s father joins Fear the Walking Dead after, as luck would have it, meeting John’s wife, June. Long ago, John Sr. was absorbed in his work and his attempts to capture notorious cult leader Theodore Maddox in the 1970s even going as far as to forge evidence. Maddox confessed to the killings and was sentenced to death. Maddox survived the early days of the outbreak, escaped in the initial chaos, and revived his doomsday cult with the express goal of launching a nuke on Houston, Texas to enable his new beginning.
After Maddox was successful, dying in the process thanks to his acolyte Dakota who had also killed John Sr.’s son, John Sr. and June were trapped in Maddox’s bunker to wait out the radiation-filled environment. There, they found that this bunker was where Maddox killed and embalmed his victims, firmly tying him to the killings and giving John Sr. the peace he long desired.
3Magna Got Revenge On Her Cousin’s Rapist
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: One
Series
The Walking Dead
Actor
Nadia Hilker
Debut
“What Comes After” (Season 9, Episode 5)
Survive the series?
Yes
# of Episodes
Like Maddox, Magna had already been convicted of murder before the apocalypse. Although the circumstances were drastically different. Magna had a rough upbringing, which led to trust issues, but was far from evil like Maddox. After discovering her cousin was raped, Magna took justice into her own hands and killed her cousin’s rapist.
Magna was put on trial and was convicted by a jury of murder. Defending Magna in court was Yumiko Okumura and throughout the court process, the two fell in love. After being introduced in the main show, their relationship becomes rocky. Once the conflict with the Commonwealth and Pamela Milton concluded at the end of the main series, the two reconciled and married.
2Leah Shaw, Pope, And The Rest Of The Reapers
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: Unknown
Series
The Walking Dead
Actor
Lynn Collins (Leah Shaw) & Ritchie Coster (Pope)
Debut
“Find Me” (Leah, Season 10, Episode 18) & “Rendition” (Pope, Season 11, Episode 4)
Survive the series?
No
Cause of Death
Shot by Daryl Dixon (Leah) & Stabbed by Leah (Pope)
# of Episodes
9 (Leah) & 4 (Pope)
read more
There is no shortage of Walking Dead characters with a military background. For many, like Abraham Ford, it’s tough to determine one way or another if they had killed in combat. For Leah Shaw, Pope, and the core members of their Reapers faction, this is confirmed. The Reapers were members of the same combat squad in Afghanistan. After returning home, many had difficulties finding work and readjusting to the combat trauma they endured. They decided to band together and form a mercenary group.
Friction started to emerge after Leah Shaw formed a close romantic relationship with the recluse Daryl Dixon. All the while, The Reapers annihilated a settlement led by Maggie Greene. After learning Daryl and Maggie were connected, she began to have conflicts with Pope and his leadership. While Leah ultimately betrays Daryl, she still kills Pope. Leah later attempts to kill Maggie before Daryl kills her without hesitation. Leah’s legacy lives on through Daryl’s dog, Dog, who Leah was the original owner of.
1Daniel Salazar Knows Full Well His Body Count
# of People Killed Before The Apocalypse: 96
Series
Fear the Walking Dead
Actor
Rubén Blades
Debut
“So Close, Yet So Far” (Season 1, Episode 2)
Survive the series?
Yes
# of Episodes
53
When Daniel Salazar was a child, he witnessed the horrors of a civil war in his native El Salvador. After his village was raided and many of its members abducted and murdered, Daniel was forced to kill one of the survivors. Over the years, Daniel killed many through the Salvadorian junta. In adulthood, Daniel was convinced to join the notorious death squad Sombra Negra (“Black Shadow”), which specializes in vigilante killings such as that of gang members. Sombra Negra, which does exist in real life, has been known for its brutal torture methods.
All of this killing greatly affected Daniel, and it still traumatizes him throughout Fear the Walking Dead. He eventually reveals that he even knows how many people he killed: 96. In the Season 3 episode titled “100,” Daniel kills four more people to bring his kill count to triple digits. Daniel finished Fear the Walking Dead with the highest direct kill count of roughly 121 while also having the highest pre-apocalypse kill count and the second-highest overall kill count in the television universe.
