Words that should be banned: neutralize

Today's word: neutralize.

Typists spend a lot of time punching in words that accurately describe people, places and events. So when I saw that Montreal police had "neutralized" the shooter at Dawson College, I had to scratch my head.

Neutralize? I thought they'd shot and killed the man.

Confused, I flipped through my dictionary and checked the definition of neutralize: to declare neutral; to grant neutrality to (eg. a state); to make neutral chemically or electrically; to make inert; to make ineffective; to counteract; it nullify.

Nowhere did it say that neutralize meant "shot and killed". If you pushed it, and pushed it hard, I suppose you could interpret "counteract" or "nullify" to mean "shot and killed."

It's hard to argue with a police force who "shot and killed" a murderer on the rampage and threatening to kill others, so what's wrong with saying so? If they "shot and killed" the man, why neutralize the account by saying they "neutalized" him?

Let's ditch "neutralize" as the word for shooting and killing and save it as a word to describe the act of achieving the PH balance of garden soil.