<p>It was a move to try and destroy the entire investigation against him as well as prevent crucial facts from being reported.</p>

<p>At this point, L had used some tactics to determine a few things about Kira.  Among them that Kira lived in a certain region of Japan and that he had access to police information.  Given that, the list of suspects was short.  And given how L deduced that Kira was probably a student, given the timings of killings, etc. that list was only going to get shorter.  Light needed to eliminate L and the investigation as soon as possible so he could kill freely.</p>

<p>Light, through Ryuk, found out that someone was following him and investigating him.  But he was unaware who it was.  He then concocted the bus scheme to force his follower to reveal his identity, learning that he was an FBI agent.</p>

<p>Now knowing that the FBI agents were in Japan, Light followed a similar path in logic to what L took, that they must be investigating those close to the Japanese police.  He also correctly assumed that the police did not know about the FBI's investigation.  He then determined that if the Japanese police became aware of the FBI and thus L's investigation into them, it would cause distrust between L and the police.  This would then hopefully remove any local help L would get.  In addition, it could also scare off anyone else from the international community from interfering with Kira.  At any rate, reducing the number of people Light had to contend with increased his chances of coming out of all this alive.</p>

<p>Also, Light knew he would be under greater suspicion after the FBI agent revealed himself.  Those FBI agents were never supposed to reveal themselves as FBI agents at all.  It would be somewhat suspicious, especially to L, that one was forced to do so.  As such, if L were to find out that the FBI agent had to reveal himself to Light who was already a suspect, it would further increase the suspicion of Light as Kira.  Light knew this and thus needed to kill the FBI agent prior to that information being reported.</p>

<p>So by killing the FBI agent Light accomplished a few things.  One he put the police at odds with L.  Second he reduced the number of people investigating.  And third he was able to prevent critical information from getting reported.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-02T18:43:40.430Z
Your answer also opens more questions than answers, however everything you said is valid and considering the kind of person that Light was, I can definitely believe this without completely pushing everything onto his "personality". He calculated it through and saw it as a right move that won't give any hints to L and take care of many problems. I will accept this answer as the right answer but I now believe that there is no "legit" reason to dictate why Light had to kill the FBI agent.
Ultima
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-02T18:10:00.277Z
2017-10-02T18:10:00.277Z
Becuzz
<p>To deter any other FBI agents from pursuing him in the future.</p>

<p>Besides, Light had always intended to lure L to him at his own pace, so he could worm his way into the Japanese task force, see L for himself, and somehow find out enough information about him (he says that he was somehow going to make L/Ryuga "trust him") that he could learn his name and kill him.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-02T12:07:00.870Z
To deter any other FBI agents from pursuing him? How would any of the FBI agents or L know that it was Light? How would anyone know that a notebook was the reason why people were dying? I can have the entire FBI chasing after me but all I have to do is stay in my room and write names down. How would anyone find me? Its a false illusion that Light was in any real danger prior to killing the FBI agent, only after was L able to track him down. This logic is flawed.
Ultima
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-02T03:15:40.323Z
2017-10-02T03:15:40.323Z
user35912
<p>This is a question that comes to my mind every time I watch <em>Death Note</em> or talks to someone else about <em>Death Note</em> and it is bothering me.</p>

<p>In the beginning, Light went out of his way to kill that one FBI agent on the bus and therefore caused L to suspect him and started the whole sequence of events of eventually discovering the existence of the death note. If Light hadn't killed that FBI agent and just kept writing names down in the notebook in his room, <em>nothing</em> would have happened. </p>

<p>Was the killing of the FBI agent something that the creator put in just to progress the story or is there an actual legit reason why Light had to do this?</p>

<p>Please, guys, don't give a theoretical answer like "It was because of Light's personality" or "Light wanted to tell the world to not follow L" or something like that, if it is because of this then the creator just did it to advance the plot.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-02T04:52:38.013Z
L felt threatened at the time. the FBI agent cleared his name but he didn't know that and thought of him as a threat. so he killed him and all the others
Henjin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-02T10:17:42.693Z
But the plan he used to kill that FBI agent was clever and smart move. He even waited few days before killing him. According to me it was really a good move as he was able to stop all the FBI agents but then again L was smart too.
Light Yagami
<death-note>
Are there any reasons why Light killed the FBI agent?
# Are there any reasons why Light killed the FBI agent?
Posted by: username_0 on 2017-10-01
This is a question that comes to my mind every time I watch *Death Note* or talks to someone else about *Death Note* and it is bothering me.

In the beginning, Light went out of his way to kill that one FBI agent on the bus and therefore caused L to suspect him and started the whole sequence of events of eventually discovering the existence of the death note. If Light hadn't killed that FBI agent and just kept writing names down in the notebook in his room, *nothing* would have happened.

Was the killing of the FBI agent something that the creator put in just to progress the story or is there an actual legit reason why Light had to do this?

Please, guys, don't give a theoretical answer like "It was because of Light's personality" or "Light wanted to tell the world to not follow L" or something like that, if it is because of this then the creator just did it to advance the plot.
**Tags:** death-note
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: L felt threatened at the time. the FBI agent cleared his name but he didn't know that and thought of him as a threat. so he killed him and all the others  
> **username_2**: But the plan he used to kill that FBI agent was clever and smart move. He even waited few days before killing him. According to me it was really a good move as he was able to stop all the FBI agents but then again L was smart too.  
---
## 2 answers
### Answer by username_3 on 2017-10-02. Score: 3 | Accepted answer
It was a move to try and destroy the entire investigation against him as well as prevent crucial facts from being reported.

At this point, L had used some tactics to determine a few things about Kira. Among them that Kira lived in a certain region of Japan and that he had access to police information. Given that, the list of suspects was short. And given how L deduced that Kira was probably a student, given the timings of killings, etc. that list was only going to get shorter. Light needed to eliminate L and the investigation as soon as possible so he could kill freely.

Light, through Ryuk, found out that someone was following him and investigating him. But he was unaware who it was. He then concocted the bus scheme to force his follower to reveal his identity, learning that he was an FBI agent.

Now knowing that the FBI agents were in Japan, Light followed a similar path in logic to what L took, that they must be investigating those close to the Japanese police. He also correctly assumed that the police did not know about the FBI's investigation. He then determined that if the Japanese police became aware of the FBI and thus L's investigation into them, it would cause distrust between L and the police. This would then hopefully remove any local help L would get. In addition, it could also scare off anyone else from the international community from interfering with Kira. At any rate, reducing the number of people Light had to contend with increased his chances of coming out of all this alive.

Also, Light knew he would be under greater suspicion after the FBI agent revealed himself. Those FBI agents were never supposed to reveal themselves as FBI agents at all. It would be somewhat suspicious, especially to L, that one was forced to do so. As such, if L were to find out that the FBI agent had to reveal himself to Light who was already a suspect, it would further increase the suspicion of Light as Kira. Light knew this and thus needed to kill the FBI agent prior to that information being reported.

So by killing the FBI agent Light accomplished a few things. One he put the police at odds with L. Second he reduced the number of people investigating. And third he was able to prevent critical information from getting reported.
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2017-10-02): Your answer also opens more questions than answers, however everything you said is valid and considering the kind of person that Light was, I can definitely believe this without completely pushing everything onto his "personality". He calculated it through and saw it as a right move that won't give any hints to L and take care of many problems. I will accept this answer as the right answer but I now believe that there is no "legit" reason to dictate why Light had to kill the FBI agent.  
---
### Answer by username_4 on 2017-10-02. Score: 0
To deter any other FBI agents from pursuing him in the future.

Besides, Light had always intended to lure L to him at his own pace, so he could worm his way into the Japanese task force, see L for himself, and somehow find out enough information about him (he says that he was somehow going to make L/Ryuga "trust him") that he could learn his name and kill him.
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2017-10-02): To deter any other FBI agents from pursuing him? How would any of the FBI agents or L know that it was Light? How would anyone know that a notebook was the reason why people were dying? I can have the entire FBI chasing after me but all I have to do is stay in my room and write names down. How would anyone find me? Its a false illusion that Light was in any real danger prior to killing the FBI agent, only after was L able to track him down. This logic is flawed.  
---
