History Main / BaitAndSwitchGunshot

** In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E6Condemned Condemned]]", a corrupt ESU sniper on Fisk's payroll positions himself on a rooftop across the street from an abandoned building where Matt is holed up with Vladimir. Upon getting the green light from James Wesley, we see him aim through the sniper scope at Ben Urich, standing down below. He fires... and hits Detective Blake, who he's been paid to eliminate because Blake is a liability to Fisk after Matt stole information on the Russians from him. Then he guns down two uniformed cops to make Blake look like the victim of a random attack.
** "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S3E10Karen Karen]]" builds up to one. Dex, sent by Fisk to kill Karen as revenge for her killing James Wesley, corners Karen in the Clinton Church while Father Lantom is doing evening mass. After temporarily incapacitating Matt, [[MythologyGag he seems about ready to kill her with one of his batons just like he did in "Guardian Devil"]]. We get an extreme close-up of Karen's face as she closes her eyes and prepares to embrace her imminent death. Dex throws the baton, we hear the sound of it impacting flesh, Karen gasps and her eyes widen... and the camera pulls back to reveal the baton sticking out of [[spoiler:Father Lantom]] standing next to her.

* In ''Anime/AngelCop'', Angel's first act on camera is to save Raiden in a BaitAndSwitchGunshot scene.

* ''Film/{{Sunset}}'': At the end of the fight on the pier, Alfie has seized the gun and drawn a bead on Tom Mix. There is a shot and, after a second, Alfie topples forward and Wyatt walks into sight, Peacemaker in hand.
* Happens in ''Film/{{Taken 2}}'' after a rooftop chase scene.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' Mantis [[spoiler: demonstrates her PeoplePuppets power by forcing Meryl to put a gun to her head. The camera pans away, and you hear a gunshot. Then the camera change to reveal that Johnny just arrived and shot Mantis to save Meryl.]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': Castle and Beckett are facing each other pointing guns. After a few seconds, two shots are heard, and ''both of the [[BodyOfTheWeek murderers]] sneaking up behind both of them fall over backwards.'' Castle reaches down and feels his lower body. Naturally, this is the first you see of the two sneaking up. The shot of them aiming at each other was used at the beginning of the episode, and featured a HowWeGotHere that encompasses the summer break (as it was the third season premiere).

* The Korean series, ''[[Series/ThreeDays 3 Days]]'', has this trope. Bad guy is about to kill the president, when the main character shows up behind him with a gun. Main character struggles to make decision as bad guy is his mentor. There is a gunshot and after a commercial break it is revealed main character was the shooter.
* In the Syfy miniseries ''Series/{{Alice|2009}}'', Walrus has just shot [[spoiler:Carpenter]] and is about to shoot Alice. Several shots go off, Alice gasps, and the camera pans to show [[spoiler:Hatter has moved from hiding to pop up behind Alice and kill Walrus]].

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' had one of these [[spoiler: when Garibaldi was taken as a hostage by a group of rogue telepaths. The gunshot was heard in a FlashForward, but the rest of the scene took half a season to set up.]]
* Done for suspense in ''Series/TheBlacklist'' during the first Anslo Garrick episode. [[spoiler: Right after killing Luli Zheng, the titular HeroKiller holds Dembe, Red's bodyguard and close friend' to gunpoint, demanding the code to open the secure room Red is locked inside of so he can enact his vengeance. Assistant Director Cooper refuses to comply, and the episode fades to black, [[spoiler: with the sound of a gunshot. In Anslo Garrick: Conclusion, we briefly rewatch these events, before hearing the shot, learning it was actually Aram shooting one of Garrick's men, who was holding Liz. Dembe is not shot, as Anslo Garrick runs off to investigate.]]
* In ''Series/BabylonBerlin'' Moritz comes across [[spoiler:Bruno's]] supremely illegal army-grade weapons stockpile in the cellar. [[spoiler:Bruno]] catches him. Then [[spoiler:he]] grabs a sniper rifle and leads the boy out into a deserted compound next to the house, where [[spoiler:he]] orders him to walk several paces out in front... [[spoiler:to lay out a couple of cabbages for Moritz to innocently practice targets on, while Bruno quietly gets back to relocating the rest of the guns]].

* Done repeatedly to death, flipped over and done again every two hours in ''Series/TwentyFour''. Usually with Jack Bauer doing the shooting.
* In the finale of ''Series/CapeTown'', two of [[spoiler: Robin van Rees']] bodyguards shrug as they hear a gunshot from inside the house, thinking their boss killed [[spoiler: Joubert]]. It turns out that [[spoiler: van Rees became the final victim of the Mauser Killer, revealed to be Joubert's therapist Hanna Fortier]].

** Season 1 episode 6: A corrupt ESU sniper on Fisk's payroll positions himself on a rooftop across the street from an abandoned building where Matt is holed up with Vladimir. Upon getting the green light from James Wesley, we see him aim through the sniper scope at Ben Urich, standing down below. He fires...and hits Detective Blake, who he's been paid to eliminate because Blake is a liability to Fisk after Matt stole information on the Russians from him. Then he guns down two uniformed cops to make Blake look like the victim of a random attack.
** Season 3 episode 10: The entire episode builds up to one. Dex, sent by Fisk to kill Karen as revenge for her killing James Wesley, corners Karen in the Clinton Church while Father Lantom is doing evening mass. After temporarily incapacitating Matt, [[MythologyGag he seems about ready to kill her with one of his batons just like he did in "Guardian Devil"]]. We get an extreme close-up of Karen's face as she closes her eyes and prepares to embrace her imminent death. Dex throws the baton, we hear the sound of it impacting flesh, Karen gasps and her eyes widen...and the camera pulls back to reveal the baton sticking out of [[spoiler:Father Lantom]] standing next to her.

* In ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'' Season 1 finale, a gunshot rings out just as the Reverse-Flash is about to kill Barry making it appear someone shot him in the back. [[spoiler: It was actually Eddie committing HeroicSuicide... which [[SubvertedTrope has the same effect anyway]]]].
* On ''Series/GeneralHospital'', after a local mob boss's thugs took revenge on the Spencer family by shooting up their home, Luke roamed through the house looking for the final intruder. Thanks to him constantly calling out to wife Laura, warning her to stay put, the bad guy was honing in on the sound of his voice. There's the sound of the gunshot, Luke's body jerks. . .and after the commercial break it is revealed that Laura had grabbed a gun of her own, snuck up behind the guy, and blown him away.

* Subverted in "Kanalua", during the third season of the ''Series/HawaiiFive0'' reimagining. [=McGarrett=] and Danny have their guns drawn on the wounded survivor of the robbery at the beginning of the episode, who's got a hostage at gunpoint. All of a sudden, he falls to the ground, not from a gunshot anywhere but because he had chosen that moment to die from his earlier wound. The subversion is lampshaded throughout that and the next scene, when Danny refuses to believe that [=McGarrett=] didn't actually do something, or even that he just ''knew'' the {{Mook}} would choose that exact moment to succumb.

* In an early episode of PostApocalyptic series ''Series/Jericho2006'' [[spoiler: during a showdown with escaped convicts.]]

* In the season 2 finale of ''Series/{{Justified}}'', [[SmallTownTyrant Doyle Bennet]], the dirty sheriff stands over Raylan, who has already been shot and knocked off his feet in the preceding gunplay. Doyle points a gun and says "This bullets been on its way for 20 years" and we hear a crack of gunfire and see Raylan jerk, but the camera quickly pans back to Doyle to reveal the gunshot hole in his forehead. He's been taken out by Raylan's fellow US Marshal sniper, Tim, who neither the audience nor Raylan knew was hiding in the hills.

* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'': In the episode "The Magnificent Eight", Snart and Professor Stein are playing poker with an outlaw who gets angry upon losing, and takes it out on a waitress. When Stein tries to stand up for her, the outlaw pulls out a gun and a shot rings... then the outlaw falls to the floor and the camera pans down revealing that Snart shot him first.

** In the episode "The Variable," Daniel has a gun on Richard and is counting down to firing, "3..2.." when we hear a shot. [[spoiler: Daniel has been shot by Ellie.]]
** In the following episode, when Sayid shoots the Hostile who was about to shoot Kate.
** And in "What Kate Does", Aldo almost shoots Jin, but Claire gets him instead.
* ''Series/LukeCage2016'': At Piranha Jones's party, Piranha waves a gun and prepares to shoot Luke for fun. He points the gun at Luke, and a gunshot occurs... from Bushmaster's men launching an armed attack on the party (this same man had been earlier seen by Luke hanging out in the crowd a few minutes before the attack).

** At the end of the first episode, the titular BountyHunter and the droid IG-11 finally find their target, [[spoiler: which turns to be a baby of Yoda's species]]. The Mandalorian wants to take it in alive, but IG-11's contract specifically said the target had to be killed. The droid raises his blaster, it cuts to a GoryDiscretionShot as we see the red glow of the laser blast illuminated on the Mandalorian's helmet... followed by IG-11's body crashing to the ground with a [[BoomHeadshot smouldering hole through his head]], shot by the Mandalorian.
** It happens again at the end of the fourth episode, with a bounty hunter having [[spoiler: the Yoda baby]] clear in his sniper scope. It cuts away, everyone hears a gunshot sound, and we cut back to see the sniper himself was shot by the Mandalorian's partner for the episode, Cara Dune. However, it nonetheless proves that Mando and the child can't stay around for much longer, because they might not be so lucky when other bounty hunters inevitably come looking for them.

* Another excellent variation is the climax of the "Living in Harmony" episode of ''Series/ThePrisoner1967''. The Sheriff (our hero, Patrick [=McGoohan=]) and the Kid (the villain, Alexis Kanner) are having a quickdraw gunfight. There's a lightning draw, the sound of just a single shot, and we see the Kid nonchalantly spin his revolver on his finger and holster it. Then drop to his knees and keel over, dead. Bonus points because they allegedly filmed the quickdraw for real (with blanks, obviously), and there really was just the one gunshot sound - because, it transpired when they developed the film and watched it back, [=McGoohan=] beat Kanner to the draw by just two frames.
* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Back to Reality" has this: A fascist policeman aims his gun at an escaping girl whose only crime was stealing an apple. We see a close-up of the fascist head's as gunshots ring out. The fascist then collapses, with Jake Bullet/Kryten revealed to have been right behind him, a smoking gun in his hand.
* Variant in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" - [[spoiler: Ianto has his gun trained on an alien holding a hostage. The alien says the team's useless without Jack, Ianto is an office boy in over his head, and he won't have the guts to shoot. Then a shot rings out and the alien collapses. Ianto stares at his gun in surprise, but behind him, Jack has just fired. "Hi, kids. Miss me?"]]
* This happens in season 3 of ''Series/TwinPeaks'', when [[spoiler:Cooper's [[EvilDoppelganger shadowself]] visits the titular town's sheriff's station and is staring Frank down. We see him pulling his revolver; a [[DeerInTheHeadlights frozen]] Frank's hat jumping inches into the air, ''quickly cutting to''...[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Lucy holding a smoking gun?]]]]

* Done in ''Series/TheXFiles'' when Agent Mulder is caught by terrorists after infiltrating a cell. He's taken out in the woods to be executed by two terrorists and is shocked when one of them shoots the other instead of him. Turns out the shooter was a government operative who had infiltrated the cell as well and, although in deep, couldn't shoot Mulder because they were on the same side.
* Subverted, inverted and then averted in a sketch of a 1970s German slapstick comedy show. There, a thief threatens a passerby, claiming that he trains a gun at him in his trenchcoat pocket. The passerby, however, sneers that he knows that it's only his index finger. Suddenly then, a shot rips out of it, killing the passerby instantly. The thief, however, quite shocked himself, quickly pulls his hand out of the pocket (he had indeed ''mimed'' a gun the whole time) and blows madly at his churned, smoking index finger.

* Inverted in ''ComicBook/GothamCentral'', when Joker escapes custody and steals a handgun in Central precinct, he corners Stacy and prepares to shoot her, saying "Kiss kiss" followed by the ''Bang Bang'' sound effect... Of Captain Sawyer shooting him.

* In City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold, it is played with in that one character beleives he was shot and goes through the apparent behaviour of dyeing. Is revealed that the gun had blanks and the effects were that shock.