Coup de grâce

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A coup de grâce (; French: [ku də ɡʁɑs] lit. 'blow of mercy') is a mercy killing in which a mortally wounded person or animal is struck with a weapon or shot with a projectile to kill it quickly and end its suffering, with or without its consent. Veterinarians may administer it to seriously injured animals that are dying or in pain, or hunters to animals they have shot and wounded. With humans, it may be done by a firing squad after a volley of shots at a condemned prisoner, or by soldiers in wartime who have captured a seriously wounded enemy soldier, although this may be a war crime.

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