"Lines of Fire" is an episode of the seventh season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street.
Mike Giardello and Stuart Gharty are ordered to investigate when Emmet Carey, a man who has recently lost both his job and a child custody battle, takes his children hostage on a top-floor apartment of a Baltimore high rise.
Regular characters Al Giardello, John Munch, Paul Falsone, Rene Sheppard, Terri Stivers and Laura Ballard do not appear in this episode.
The episode was originally planned for airing on April 30, 1999, but NBC moved it back one week to put more distance between the show's gunman/hostage story and the Columbine massacre.
A minor continuity error occurs involving Mike Giardello's character, since he resigns from the FBI in "Identity Crisis" (the episode moved into the 4/30 spot).