Breaking Bad: 10 Characters With The Highest Kill Count
The characters of Breaking Bad have killed a lot of people... a lot. But who among them is king of the kill?
A show about the drug trade is guaranteed to have plenty of character deaths and Breaking Bad was no different. There were a total of 274 deaths, which is staggering for a show that only had five seasons. Season 2 had the highest number of deaths, with a total of 176 people dying. The first season had the lowest number of deaths as only 2 people died.
The leading cause of death was murder. The only instance when people weren’t directly murdered was when the Wayfarer 515 collided with a chartered plane in Season 2”s thirteenth episode titled “ABQ.” The following are the characters with the highest kill counts.
Tuco Salamanca (2)
Tuco was a brilliant villain. Sadly, he didn’t last too long in the AMC series. He was the first person Walt made a deal with. However, things went south for him when he tried to take Walt and Jesse to Mexico.
In the Season One finale, he brutally beat up his henchman No-Doze to death. After Walt and Jesse made a deal with Tuco, No-Doze warned them to always remember who they were working for. This remark angered Tuco because he hadn’t given No-Doze permission to speak. He began punching No-Doze until he died. The DEA also mentioned that Tuco killed his associate Dog Paulson though this kill wasn’t shown on screen.
Hank Schrader (2)
Despite being a bad-ass DEA agent, Hank didn’t kill a lot of people. This is because most of his time was spent trying to figure out the identity of Heisenberg, without knowing that it was his brother-in-law Walt.
Despite his low figures, he committed two memorable killings, namely that of Tuco Salamanca and one of The Cousins. Hank shot Tuco in the second episode of Season 2 titled “Grilled” when the two exchanged fire. He also shot Marco Salamanca (one of The Cousins) when he attempted to kill him at a parking lot.
Hector Salamanca (3)
Hector’s first kill happened via a flashback scene in Season 4’s eight episode titled “Hermanos.” While a young Gus and his partner Max Arciniega were trying to make a deal with Don Eladio, Hector shot Max in the head.
His final two kills happened when he blew himself up together with Gus and his henchman Tyrus Kitt in Season 4’s thirteenth episode titled “Face Off.” Hector did this after being convinced by Walt to strap a bomb on his wheelchair.
Jesse Pinkman (5)
Jesse broke fans’ hearts in the Season 3 finale when he shot the seemingly innocent chemist Gale Boetticher after Walt’s persuasion. Walt didn’t want to be expendable so he figured the best thing to do was take out Gale. This way, he and Jesse would be the only people who could cook meth.
His other killings were those of Joaquin Salamanca, Neil Kandy and Casey. Jesse finally redeemed himself by killing Todd in the series finale titled “Felina”. He strangled the man who had held him captive and broke his neck with his handcuff chains.
Mike (9)
The Cousins caused plenty of havoc on the show so it came as a relief when they were both killed. While Marco was killed by Hank during the shootout at the parking, a badly injured Leonel was killed by Mike at the Lovelace Medical Center to prevent him from telling Bolsa that it was Gus who ordered the hit on Hank.
Mike’s other notable kills were that of the Los Pollos security guard Chris Mara and the Juarez Cartel enforcer Gaff. Mike also killed six Juarez Cartel assassins on the show.
Jack Welker (12)
The Neo-Nazi gang leader didn’t have the tiniest bit of remorse when conducting his killings. The only time he showed remorse was when he decided to leave one barrel full of money for Walt instead of taking it all.
Together with Todd, he killed Declan’s men as well as Declan himself. Jack was also the one who shot fan-favorite DEA agent Hank Schrader in the head. Jack was also indirectly connected to 10 other deaths. These were people who were killed by his gang as per his orders.
Todd (13)
Todd committed one of the most heartbreaking murders on the show when he shot a young boy who had witnessed the train robbery. What makes his figures high is the fact that he also killed eight of Declan’s henchmen at once. This was a joint killing with his boss Jack.
He also killed Declan’s cook. And in the highly-rated Season 5 episode “Ozymandias,” Todd killed Hank’s partner during the shootout between the two DEA agents and Jack’s white supremacist gang.
Gustavo “Gus” Fring (13)
As a drug lord, Gus ordered plenty of killings but the ones he committed himself summed up to 13. The first time viewers saw him killing someone was when he sliced his henchman Victor’s throat in Season 4’s premiere episode titled “Box Cutter.”
The majority of his murders happened on one occasion when he gave Don Eladio a gift of poisoned tequila. Most of the cartel members drank it too, leading to their deaths. Gus also drank it but forced himself to vomit it. He still got mild poisoning, forcing him to get treatment.
Walter “Walt” White (14)
As the antihero of she show, Walt committed plenty of iconic murders after he broke bad. His first major kill was that of Jesse’s former business partner Emilio Koyama in the RV. Walt caused a chemical explosion with phosphine gas, that left Emilio dead and Krazy-8 badly injured.
His last major kill was that of the Neo-Nazi gang leader Jack Welker and two of his crew members using a remote-controlled machine gun. Walt also ended up dying from injuries sustained during the shooting incident.
The Cousins (16)
Twin brothers Leonel and Marco Salamanca aka The Cousins were the most ruthless duo on the show. They cut off the head of Danny Trejo’s character Tortuga for betraying the Juarez Cartel. The Cousins weren’t afraid of killing law enforcement officers either.
They hacked Pueblo of Santa Ana Police Department officer with an ax. They also put a bomb inside Tortuga’s head and strapped it on a tortoise, before using it to blow up a couple of DEA agents.
