Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-112155-20151209000111/@comment-26258556-20151210013741

LucasVerBeek wrote: Merciful? Coulson crushed his chest with his hand! Slowly and intimately before finally finishing it.

Yeah. Just felt merciful to me. Most people would proably have put so many bullets in him that he would die of blood loss, even if it didn't hit vital areas. I actually kind of expected something a little more bloody, like Coulson putting a bullet in Ward's head, just like Ward did to Victoria Hand's guards. Then again, Marvel does tend to avoid bloody deaths for the main villains (Jessica snapped Kilgrave's neck, Cal killed Jiaying by breaking her spine) if they even kill them off (Fisk, Lash, etc.). So I guess it was expected.

Still, there was no real point of dragging him around, Coulson probably would have been able to find Fitz faster without wasting his energy on Ward.