Tariq kills Ghost in Power because years of resentment, betrayal, and fear all boil over in one moment where he believes his father has destroyed their family and is about to sacrifice him to save himself.

Core reasons Tariq killed Ghost

  • Deep resentment and betrayal
    Tariq blames Ghost for breaking up their family over Angela, believing his father chose his own happiness and ambition over his wife and children. He confronts Ghost saying his actions ruined everything and that things can never go back to how they were.
  • Fear of going to prison
    By the end of season 6, Ghost is ready to turn Tariq and Tasha in to protect his political future and clean up his own image. Tariq realizes the “only way out” of the mess they are in might be to kill Ghost before Ghost sacrifices him to save himself.
  • Revenge for lies and manipulation
    Tariq has spent years discovering that almost everything about his father’s life—legitimate businessman, family man, clean past—was a lie, and he associates his own descent into crime with Ghost’s choices and legacy. Killing Ghost becomes, in his mind, revenge for the pain, trauma, and criminal life he feels he was pushed into.
  • Psychological pressure and influence from others
    Tariq is heavily influenced by Kanan and by the violent world around him, which twists his view of Ghost and normalizes extreme solutions. That environment makes pulling the trigger feel like a brutal but “logical” step rather than an unthinkable betrayal.

How the scene plays out

  • Tariq confronts Ghost with a gun, accusing him of ruining their family and planning to turn them in. Ghost insists he loves him and tries to talk him down.
  • After a brief hesitation, Tariq shoots Ghost, sending him over the balcony just as Tasha arrives, too late to stop it.
  • Tommy rushes in ready to shoot Tariq, but Ghost’s dying words are to spare his son, telling Tommy to “let him go.”

Different ways fans interpret it

  • Some fans see Tariq’s decision as the inevitable result of long-term emotional abuse, lies, and trauma inside a violent criminal world.
  • Others argue that, regardless of Ghost’s faults, Tariq’s act is an unjustifiable killing of a father who was still trying to push him toward a better life.
  • Many discussions frame it as the “cycle of violence” catching up with Ghost: the life he built eventually turns his own son into the person who kills him.

Why it matters for the story

  • Ghost’s death is the turning point that fully shifts the narrative from Ghost to Tariq and sets up Power Book II: Ghost as Tariq’s story.
  • The moment cements themes of revenge , family betrayal, and the cost of a double life; even in his last moments, Ghost tries to save Tariq, while dying at his hands.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.