Of All the Grey's Anatomy Deaths, This One's Going to Haunt Us for a Long Time
When it comes to the most shocking death on Grey's Anatomy, the majority of fans agree it happened all the way back in Season 6.
Grey's Anatomy has killed off a lot of characters over its 19-year run. Both patients and doctors' deaths saddened many viewers. The Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open journal once calculated that the mortality rate in Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital was 22%, which was much higher than the real-life 7%.
However, these deaths are an integral part of the show. They serve as a trigger for many exciting storylines and a way to engage the audience. Featuring multiple deaths has proven to be extremely successful for the 400-episodes-long show.
While patient deaths outnumber the deaths of doctors, the latter definitely have more impact on the audience. Long-term fans can say exactly how they felt when George O'Malley or Derek Shepherd died. And the new viewers usually come prepared for these devastating scenes. But there is a death that is rarely discussed in the fandom and can thus startle anyone.
Season 6 finale consisting of two parts, Sanctuary and Death and All His Friends, had one of the most memorable storylines on Grey's Anatomy.
In the finale, a husband of a former patient who had died in the hospital entered its corridors to take revenge on all the surgeons who had failed his late wife. He was looking for the Chief of Surgery (Derek Shepherd) when he stumbled upon Dr. Reed Adamson in a supply closet. Reed refused to show him Derek's office saying she was a surgeon, not a tour guide, and needed to attend to a patient having seizures.
And this is where the unexpected scene that shocked so many viewers happened. In a millisecond, the man shot Reed in the head, and she dropped dead with a huge bullet hole in the forehead.
"I did not see this coming at all. I actually jumped. This part scared me half to death. My God..." one of the viewers commented under the scene posted on YouTube.
Reed's death was so terrifying because it showed how a seemingly sane man goes on a shooting spree. The deadly shot had become one of many the man shot that day killing one other resident and seriously injuring several major characters.
To make the death even more shocking, the creators kept filming Reed's dead face for a few long seconds and added the scene where April Kepner found Reed's body by tipping over it and falling in the puddle of blood.