assassination

[Charles C Doyle]

Yesterday an escaping carjacker shot and killed an Athens GA policeman.  Both the police chief and several TV commentators has been referring to the murder as an "assassination."

That use of the term sounds odd to me.  Some dictionaries, in entries for the noun and its corresponding verb, specify the killing of a "prominent person" or "public figure"; others say "especially" for that limitation.

The OED does not (nor does it give any examples of the noun or verb from later than the mid-19th century, except in figurative senses, as in "character assassination").  Should it?  I assume the specialization of the terms (if such exists) is a somewhat receent development (19th or 20th century).

--Charlie

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