old hollywood has very "clean" deaths. riff's wound was fatal, he died, tony was his best friend, his 'second,' if you like. his frustration of having come down to the rumble to try and stop it and then seeing his best friend killed by the brother of his lover - he tries to be noble for maria, but the jets are all behind him, so peer pressure major, and it's very easy for tony to let frustration blow up everything and kill bernardo.
but yeah - that's how they played fatal wounds. shock; silence; a phrase to remember the dead by. that's old hollywood for ya.
[also, every little movie question should go up in the "what's this movie?" full thread. so i'm just gonna report this and have it moved there. so - yeah. just for future notice.]