Characteristics of firearms and gunshot wounds as markers of suicide.

Data from a total of 1,200 cases that the Medical Examiner of Dallas County, Texas, ruled as suicide with a firearm have been compared with the results of forensic laboratory examinations and tests; 75% are with handguns and 25% are with long guns. The incidence of suicides by gender yields 82% males and 18% females, with the most common entrance site being the head. With regard to racial distribution of persons committing suicide, > 88% are white in the study population group, which is 76% white. Data are presented for the incidence of blood detected inside and on the muzzle end of the barrel of the firearm, and for the persistence of blood inside the barrel even after the weapon was discharged to obtain test bullets. The analysis of handwipings for primer residues shows that "positive" results are obtained for approximately 50% of the revolvers and approximately 32% of the pistols when the caliber is > 22. Other projects such as transfer of gunshot residues to the hand by simply handling the weapon, the incidence of single-contact wounds in homicide versus suicide cases, and the percent of positive identification of bullets with weapons submitted are described.     

An unusual death caused by strangulation

An accidental case of strangulation is reported in which the victim caught his head in the gap of a wooden shed. Before passing into unconsciousness rescue was attempted.     

Puncture wounds caused by glass mistaken for with stab wounds with a knife

Three cases are presented where fatal puncture wounds caused by broken glass were very similar to stab wounds inflicted by a knife with a single-edged blade. Thus, all three cases caused a murder investigation to be initiated. It could only be determined that these wounds had been caused by glass after a detailed forensic autopsy. In two of the three cases, the only evidence for this was the identification of glass fragments in the wounds. The importance of X-ray examinations is underlined because modern glass in common use is radiopaque. Glass fragments lodged in the wounds can reduce the loss of blood and thus, prolong the capacity to act despite severe injuries.     

Suicide by firearms: a 15-year experience.

A retrospective review of 1704 cases of suicide involving firearms investigated by the Bexar County Medical Examiner's office between 1984 and 1998 was performed. The age distribution was similar in male and female victims, and the type of weapon was not associated with age. Approximately 78% of the victims used a handgun (87% of female and 76% of male victims). In 4.0% of head wound cases, the site of the entrance wound was the back of the head. Thus, this report refutes the common belief that all gunshot wounds to the back of the head represent homicides. In 1.9% of the cases, the wounds were inflicted at intermediate range. With handguns, the right temple was the most common site, but with rifles and shotguns, the most common site was the mouth.     

The specificity of gunshot wounds caused by rubber buck shot

Described in the paper are forensic-medical cases related with examinations of wounds inflicted by rubber case-shot--a relatively rare ammunition. The morphology of the above wounds and specific features of deposition of "shot metals" in the damaged region were studied. The possibilities of fixing a shot distance and ammunition type were defined.     

Gunshot wounds caused by Fiocchi Anticrime cartridges (plastic bullets).

The Fiocchi Anticrime cartridge (caliber 12/70) used for shotguns contains 15 plastic bullets that have a total weight (mass) of 15.2 g and feature a V4 of 302 m/s and an E4 of 694.7 J. Hence the bullets, which are claimed to be harmless, are able to penetrate the skin at close range. This article presents four cases of injuries. According to our tests, the Fiocchi Anticrime cartridge may well cause fatal injuries within firing distances of up to approximately 4-5 m.     

An unusual case of suicide caused by electric current]

The authors describe a suicide case of a 37 year old master joiner caused by electricity. One wire was put around a neck and the other around the left wrist.     

Forensic medical evaluation of stab-incised wounds caused by knives with point defects

The present experimental study allowed to characterize specific signs of stab-incised wounds caused by knives with operational point defects. Diagnostic coefficients calculated for these macro- and microscopic features facilitate differential diagnostics of the injuries and make it possible to identify a concrete stabbing/cutting weapon with which the wound was inflicted..     

Homicide by firearms in two Scandinavian capitals

In the Oslo and Copenhagen areas, 83 homicides by firearms were registered in the 10-year period 1985 to 1994, accounting for 19.3% of all homicides in that period. The majority of the victims were between 20 and 50 years old, and 58% were male, 42% female. The yearly number of firearm homicides varied between 4 and 15, with neither an increase nor decrease throughout the period. Most of the victims had no detectable blood alcohol at autopsy. Female victims were typically shot in their own domicile with a shotgun by their spouse, mostly because of jealousy or in a family argument, whereas male victims were shot on different locations, predominantly with a handgun, for many different reasons. Most victims were shot in the head, and few had entrance wounds in more than one anatomic region.     

Accuracy of comparison decisions by forensic firearms examiners

This black box study assessed the performance of forensic firearms examiners in the United States. It involved three different types of firearms and 173 volunteers who performed a total of 8640 comparisons of both bullets and cartridge cases. The overall false-positive error rate was estimated as 0.656% and 0.933% for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively, while the rate of false negatives was estimated as 2.87% and 1.87% for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively. The majority of errors were made by a limited number of examiners. Because chi-square tests of independence strongly suggest that error probabilities are not the same for each examiner, these are maximum-likelihood estimates based on the beta-binomial probability model and do not depend on an assumption of equal examiner-specific error rates. Corresponding 95% confidence intervals are (0.305%, 1.42%) and (0.548%, 1.57%) for false positives for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively, and (1.89%, 4.26%) and (1.16%, 2.99%) for false negatives for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively. The results of this study are consistent with prior studies, despite its comprehensive design and challenging specimens.     

Burn injuries caused by a hair-dryer--an unusual case of child abuse

About 1.4-26% burn injuries in children appear to be abusive in origin. A 2.5-year-old girl was referred to our institute because of suspected child abuse. Clinical examination and later interrogation of the mother revealed non-recent deep second degree burn injuries on both gluteal regions, caused by the partner of the mother by pressing a hand-held hair-dryer against the skin. The authors present the findings of this unusual method of child abuse.     

Confusing wounds of entrance and exit with an unusual weapon

A case of suicide where the victim used a four-barreled, concealable weapon firing 0.357 magnum ammunition is presented. Because of the extreme "blow back" effect caused by such a weapon, the direction of fire and manner of death were, at first, interpreted incorrectly by investigators.     

腹部穿透创致腹腔积血的法医学鉴定

在法医学鉴定中,当暴力所致的原发损害与医疗过失行为造成的继发损害并存时,应区别“不可避免的”继发损害和“可以避免的”继发损害,并将原发损害与“不可避免的”继发损害一起,作为损伤程度鉴定的依据,而不能将“可以避免的”继发损害也作为损伤程度鉴定的依据。《人体重伤鉴定标准》第七十二条规定了外伤后腹部积血的鉴定原则,如何应用该条款评定损伤程度,需对原发损害与继发损害加以区别,同时,有必要对这一条款进行必要的修改。     

Peculiarities of the stab and cut wounds caused by blades of combat cold weapons

Design philosophy of blades of Russia-made combat cold arms and of inflicted-by-them stab-and-cut wounds were characterized on the basis of a comparative-and-evaluation study. Stereomicroscopy, histology examinations as well as X-ray-spectral and fluorescence analyses were made use of while investigating the wounds with subsequent processing of the results by discriminative analysis. Form, skewness and a graze type of the wound tubber as well as presence of "edge cuts" and of central graze wound were found to be the main distinctive wound signs. The study results ensure a full-value differential diagnosis of a type of the used cold-arm sample.