'Grey's Anatomy' Killed Off A MAJOR Character & Twitter Is Really Not OK

Warning: Spoilers for Grey's Anatomy Season 17, Episode 7 follow. Grey's Anatomy fans are saying another heartbreaking goodbye. On Thursday, March 11, the show unexpectedly killed off one of its beloved characters in a shocking twist no one saw coming. It was a devastating moment for many viewers, as evidenced by these tweets about DeLuca's death on Grey's Anatomy.

McHottie's story picked up during another Grey's Anatomy crossover episode with its firefighter spinoff show, Station 19. During the hour, he and his sister Carina took matters into their own hands and helped stop Opal, the sex trafficker who infiltrated Grey Sloan Memorial in the fall finale. Although the siblings succeeded, Andrew DeLuca was stabbed by one of Opal's partners in crime and rushed into surgery.

DeLuca's storyline carried over into the Grey's mid-season premiere, as Teddy and Owen attempted to save his life. In the meantime, he got the chance to hang out with his ex-girlfriend Meredith Grey on the beach for a while.

"Here, now, on this beach with you, I get it. I don't just get it, I feel it. I get who I am. I know my own soul, my strength," he told Mer during their reunion. She smiled tearfully and told him, "I'll miss you. If I go back and you don't, I'll miss you."

Unfortunately, his injuries ended up being too severe, and he died a hero. On the beach, DeLuca ran into his long-lost mother's arms for a peaceful afterlife. But even though he's in a "better place" now, Twitter was in shambles over his unexpected death.

While many Grey's fans are understandably heartbroken, actor Giacomo Gianniotti (who played DeLuca) gave fans hope that they could eventually see his character again. "Over the course of these 17 seasons, we've had a lot of characters leave ... And we continue to see those people. We've continued to see those people in flashbacks, in dreams, in all kinds of different scenarios," he told Deadline on March 11. "Just because DeLuca has died, it doesn't mean that there's not other ways for us ... to see other manifestations of DeLuca in the future. I definitely think there's a possibility to see DeLuca in the rest of the season."

Grey's Anatomy continues on Thursday, March 18, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.