Which word can best replace the word 'murder' as used in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have. It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. I had never shot an elephant and never wanted to. (Somehow it always seems worse to kill large animals.) Besides, there was the beast's owner to be considered. But I had got to act quickly. I turned to some experienced-looking people who had been there when we arrived, and asked them how the elephant had been behaving. They all said the same thing; he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.