If you kill someone by accident, they're just as dead as if you killed them on purpose.
The human body is a rather reliable and sturdy mechanism. Smacking someone over the head will not necessarily kill someone. One smack with a 2x4 should not immediately kill someone. That's assault with a deadly weapon, but it's not automatically lethal. This is why professional wrestlers can smack each other in the head repeatedly with a metal folding chair -- going for the top of the head (say around 10 and 2 o'clock) -- will not scambling their opponent's brains like cracked eggs. The skull is well fortified in that general area, and needs to be deliberately stuck with a hammer, with intent to kill.
However, taking that same 2x4 and smacking someone in the temple, or the brainstem, will result in instant, and rather permanent death. It's generally the sort of thing you want to avoid.
One such point is the solar plexus. Generally a nerve center in charge of regulating many of the body's organs (like the lungs, and the heart), striking that point will usually drop an opponent like a load of bricks. And, if it doesn't, that should distract them long enough to hurt them in ways that will keep them down, and out of the fight. A good knee-stomp is always useful.
However, as Carlos Gutierrez, an instructor at Gabi Noah Krav Maga, has pointed out, "The solar plexus is overlooked and mistaken for a 'point of damage' rather than a vulnerable 'death spot.' "
In short, hitting someone too hard in the solar plexus can stop their breathing alltogether.
While we do not generally recommend standing over a fallen opponent and stomping on them (unless they're still mobile, and trying to get back up and attack again, in which case, by all means, stomp away), these things happen in fights. Adrenaline kicks in, and a defender can swing one or two more times than is necessary, and stomp.
Should this happen, please don't stomp on the solar plexus.
Instructor Gutierrez also noted that it was possible, "with the right power" to do enough damage with "A vertical uppercut elbow, knee, [a] certain kick with [a] certain striking surface," or, possibly, a palm strike. However, this requires a good deal of power, and you need to hit the solar plexus just right.
In short, this is not the sort of move you use in a bar fight, unless someone has pulled a weapon ... in this example, a broken bottle counts as a weapon.
Another point you might wish to be careful about, if possible -- while a jab to the throat with stiff fingers will seriously disorient, or even stop, some attackers, please try not to crush their windpipe unless you need to. If some drunk in a bar fight takes a swing at you, and your first response is to send a fist, at full swing, into their throat .... have someone call 911 for an ambulance while you call for your lawyer.
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