# Murder
In NetHack, murder is the act of killing a formerly peaceful human such as a watchman, shopkeeper, or aligned priest.[1]  This only applies to humans who were generated as peaceful, not to those who were generated as hostile then pacified through magic. In particular, Keystone Kops do not count because they are generated hostile. If you anger the high priest of Moloch by entering their temple, you may kill without being considered a murderer.[2][3] If you are called an infidel, it's fair game. Killing the high priest from outside the temple, without first entering it, still counts as murder.  Killing a guard is murder, even if the guard attacks first.
Unless you are chaotic, murder will cause you to lose intrinsic telepathy and two points of Luck.  The message when this happens is "You murderer!"
Note that whatever your race, only the killing of a peaceful human will ever be classed as murder.
Everyone including chaotics still gets a huge alignment penalty for killing always-peaceful monsters (which mostly coincide with those that can be murdered): Minetown watch, priests, shopkeepers etc.

Strategy
One way to get rid of a peaceful human while avoiding the penalty for murder is to let your pet do the dirty work. Another option is a ring of conflict. You can also polymorph your victims before killing them.  Note that a human's death of system shock from your failed attempt to polymorph them ("

<the human=""> shudders") also counts as murder.
It's a good idea to carry a tin or two of floating eye meat in case you lose your telepathy (whether through committing murder or a gremlin attack).

Variants
In EvilHack, always-peaceful monsters are now racial monsters as well, meaning that murder is no longer limited to just killing humans of these monster types.

References

↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 2463: Specifically, killing humans of types that are not always generated hostile, are not player monsters, and that, when killed, adjust your alignment record by a non-positive number, will subject you to a murder penalty if you are not chaotic.

↑ src/priest.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 429: The alignment record gain you get from killing the high priest is set to a positive value when angered by you entering their temple.

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 2076

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