In a hostage situation , the primary goal is the safe recovery of the hostages , who are usually held under threat of violence or other prolonged physical harm ( starvation , poisoning , bleeding , illness ) from kidnappers . Thus the situation is treated similarly to situations with other armed attackers under cover , but with even more caution . snipers are often employed to attempt to provide leverage against the hostage-takers or to fire at the hostage takers if an imminent risk of harm to the hostages is identified . Unless all kidnappers can be hit and killed by sniper gunfire almost simultaneously , generally extreme prejudice ( e.g. , shooting at gunmen ) is not used as freely due to the danger of other kidnappers killing the hostages , as in the 1972 Munich example . This is not true in lone wolf situations , where the hostage taker is often shot by a snipers with armor-piercing or wall-piercing ammunition if talk or negotiation resolution is impossible . In all situations the preferred method is to talk the kidnappers into releasing the hostages for ransom or otherwise talking them down using therapeutic or diplomatic techniques , to protect the safety of the hostages and , ideally , have the suspect surrender peacefully
1972 Munich
Munich massacre
Standoff distance