射击(shè jī) - to fire, to shoot; shooting (the sport) in Mandarin

射击 (shè jī) is the act of firing a weapon, and also the sport of target shooting. It is the formal, slightly technical word you meet in news reports, military language and Olympic coverage, alongside 射击场 (shooting range) and 射击比赛 (shooting competition).

It usually stands without an object. You fire 向 or 朝 something (向目标射击, to fire at the target) rather than shooting the target directly, which is why the preposition matters more here than the word order.

The trap is treating it as the everyday verb for shooting a person. In ordinary speech that is 开枪打他 or simply 开枪, and a wounded man was 中枪. Say 我射击他 and a Chinese speaker will understand you, then quietly note that you sound like a training manual.