Twenty seasons in, Grey’s Anatomy has perfected its formula of balancing (sometimes unbelievable) medical storylines with family drama and love stories. Like the unexpected and disturbing plane crash episode, sometimes an episode airs that is darker than most. While it was wild watching Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) put her hand inside a patient with a bomb inside him in season 2, the episode that featured a shooting was also memorable and intense.
Since its premiere in 2005, we’ve been obsessing over the Shonda Rhimes-created hospital drama and all the major and minor characters who have come and gone. No matter how many episodes there are, fans are always going to remember one particular plotline. What episode of Grey’s Anatomy featured the shooting?
What Grey’s Anatomy episode had a shooting?
The two-part season 6 finale of Grey’s Anatomy featured a terrifying shooting. In episode 23 called “Sanctuary” and episode 24 called “Death and All His Friends,” the hospital goes into lockdown because they learn that an active shooter is inside. While some of the medical cases on the show are odd and unrealistic (like the season 2 character who ate doll heads), this two-part shooting episode is disturbing because it sadly feels like it could really happen.
While season 6 of Grey’s Anatomy might not be a fan favorite, the shooting episode tells a devastating story with complexity and care. Gary Clark (Michael O’Neill)’s wife Alison (Caroline Williams) had cancer and passed away from a stroke at the hospital, and he blames Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) since he operated on Alison. In “Sanctuary,” Gary hurts Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), shoots and kills Reed Adamson (Nora Zehetner) and then shoots Derek in a horrifying cliffhanger.
In “Death and All His Friends,” Gary kills Charles Percy (Robert Baker) and threatens to shoot Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh). They survive, and Gary takes his life.
The Grey’s Anatomy shooting episode is also a significant part of Meredith’s character arc since she comes close to losing her best friend and dance partner Cristina, the love of her life Derek, and her close colleagues. She also grieves the loss of two doctors, reminding her yet again that the medical field is dangerous.
Meredith is such a well-written character because she doesn’t shy away from the dark parts of her job and does whatever she can to save patients while figuring out how to move past childhood trauma and make genuine connections. But a shooting is incredibly traumatizing for anyone, and Meredith begins season 7 in an understandably more vulnerable place.
The episode is so realistic that Sarah Drew, whose character April Kepner tells Gary to let her live because she wants to fall in love, said that she had anxiety while filming. According to Business Insider, Drew told Lynette Rice for the book How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy, “I had nightmares and panic attacks while we were shooting that, even for several days after we finished.” She said it affected her because “your body doesn’t know that it’s not happening.”
