An unusual case of suicide by stabbing with a falling weighted dagger.

An unusual suicide by self-stabbing is presented. A 42-year-old man committed suicide with a dagger weighted with 2.72 kg in total and allowed to fall freely. The blade of the dagger fell from a height of 10 cm above the chest, penetrated the second left intercostal skin and pierced the upper lobe of the left lung. However, the weapon did not penetrate the chest skin from a stationary position in our trial at the autopsy. This finding confirms the results of experiments with stab wound dynamics which demonstrated that the impact velocity of the weapon as well as the sharpness of the tip is important for skin penetration.     

Fatal stun gun injury using a modified animal sedation gun

A 54-year-old butcher attempted to commit suicide with a manipulated "humane killer". He removed the recoil spring, the rubber bush and also the screw forming the muzzle end, which to our knowledge has never been described in a case report before. Due to this manipulation the entire bolt left the weapon, as a free projectile, penetrated the forehead and lodged inside the skull, from where it could not be removed neurosurgically. The patient died from the consequences of the severe cerebral injury 3 days later.     

Gunshot wounds of the head in soldiers wearing military helmets-- general aspects and experiments and observations on the biomechanics and wound morphology

With respect to wound ballistics, the situation is different if the person wearing a military helmet suffers head injuries from a bullet. The mechanisms of injury were investigated in four experimental series and supplemented by a case history. The study showed surprising results: in the majority of cases, the helmet does not protect the wearer, but instead intensifies the damage caused by the bullet. The reasons for this phenomena are changes in the stability of the projectile and deformation of or damage to the bullet. All of these mechanisms result in the bullet striking the tissue with higher energy. In this investigation, Kevlar helmets were also tested, which are not penetrated by 9 X 19 mm parabellum bullets. Even so, however, severe injuries of the skull and brain can occur because the projectile causes intensified impressions on the skull under the helmet and, in addition, an acceleration of the head.     

A shot through the window

At issue in this case was whether an unusual window defect seen in two of the crime scene photographs was due to a bullet and if so, if that same bullet fatally wounded the victim. The window appeared to have been cracked prior to the apparent shot through it. A .22 bullet recovered from autopsy, when examined only by light microscopy, failed to show associated glass fragments. A previously cracked test window was shot a number of times with .22 caliber bullets near the cracks in an effort to simulate the window defect seen in the crime scene photographs. Several of the defects produced by the test window shots appeared similar to the crime scene window defect. The .22 bullet taken from the victim and several of the test bullets (collected by a cotton box) were examined by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The test bullets showed glass particles on and embedded in their surfaces. Particles of similar size and composition were found embedded in the surface of the bullet from the victim. The bullet likely struck the window prior to hitting the victim. It was apparent by the morphology of some of the mushroomed test .22 bullets that they hit the window crack. These bullets showed that the glass on one side of a crack often fails before the other side during the strike. Aggregations of powdered glass on many of the mushroomed surfaces of the .22 bullets suggest that as the bullet mushrooms during impact on the window surface, the glass in contact with the bullet powderizes and coats the mushroomed surface of the bullet with a layer of fine glass particles.     

A review of nail gun suicides and an atypical case report

The nail gun was designed as a powerful industrial tool to drive nails into various hard surfaces with ease. Serious injuries associated with the tool are uncommon and deaths are rare. Unintentional injuries normally occur from misuse of the tool or from ricocheting nails. The intentional use of a nail gun to commit suicide is unusual. This paper will review successful and unsuccessful suicide attempts by use of a nail gun. We will present an atypical case of suicide committed with a nail gun by a 46-year-old depressed male investigated by the Allegheny County Coroner's Office in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in April 2002. This case reports for the first time a unique pathological finding of a ring of bone traveling with the nail, which has not been seen in wounds of the head caused by other types of projectiles.     

Pseudo-gunpowder stippling caused by fragmentation of a plated bullet

In this report we present a case of pseudo-gunpowder stippling caused by fragmentation of a plated bullet. Investigation of the incident revealed absence of an interposed target, no evidence of ricochet, and a normally functioning, undamaged weapon. Electroplated ("plated" or "coated") bullets are relatively uncommon. They look similar to jacketed bullets in that the lead core is covered by a copper-colored jacketlike material. However, the copper-colored plating material is thinner than the typical jacket material. In certain instances, the plating may strip away from the lead core during transit through the barrel of the weapon and can produce injuries that mimic gunpowder stippling. Forensic pathologists are advised to be aware of this phenomenon. Misinterpretation of such wounds could result in improper classification of range of fire or improper conclusions about the presence or absence of an interposed target or ricochet.     

Entrance, exit, and reentrance of one shot with a shotgun

The case being reported is one of a homicidal shotgun fatality with an unusual wound pattern. A 34-year-old man was shot at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun armed with No. 5 birdshot ammunition. The shot entered the left axillary region, exited through the left infraclavicular region, and thereafter penetrated the left side of the neck, causing tearing of the left common carotid artery and the right internal carotid artery. The entrance wound in the axilla was larger than the other wounds, and before autopsy it was believed that the shotgun had been fired twice, causing one wound in the neck and one wound perforating the infraclavicular region and exiting through the left axillary region. Thus, this case shows that unusual wound patterns in shotgun fatalities can easily lead to incorrect assumptions with regard to number and direction of shots fired unless thorough investigation is carried out postmortem.     

Death, after swallowing and aspiration of a high number of foreign bodies, in a schizophrenic woman

A 46-year-old woman who had had a long-term schizoid psychosis collapsed on the street. Upon admission to the hospital, she was determined to have an acute abdomen. The chest radiograph showed metallic foreign bodies in both main bronchi; foreign bodies in the stomach were not observed clinically. The woman died from repeated cardiac arrest shortly after hospital admission. At the autopsy a screw and a nail were found in both main bronchi. The abdominal cavity contained 2 L of greenish purulent fluid and a massive fibrinoid peritonitis was observed. Two perforations of the stomach, each 1 cm in diameter, were detected. The stomach was completely filled with a mass of metallic foreign bodies, greenish fluid, and a bezoar of a total weight of 1,400 g; 422 distinguishable and mostly metallic foreign bodies were counted. Death was attributed to cardiac arrest in delayed shock after massive purulent peritonitis caused by two gastric perforations combined with obstruction of the airways by aspirated foreign bodies. Cases of massive swallowing of foreign bodies are mainly restricted to mentally handicapped persons, especially schizophrenics, whereas acute impaction of the larynx by large food particles occurs nearly exclusively in heavily intoxicated adults.     

An atypical gunshot wound from a home-made zip gun--the value of a thorough scene investigation

Zip guns and the atypical gunshot wounds they produce are rare in forensic pathology. Because of this, investigators and forensic pathologists may be unfamiliar with their construction, appearance, and the wounds associated with them. A 43-year-old mechanic, with a history of depression was found dead in a washroom stall at work with an atypical gunshot wound of the head. Upon initial investigation, no weapon was found at the scene. Due to the nature of the scene, and the unusual characteristics of the wound, the manner of death was at first thought to be a homicide. Subsequently, a simple zip gun, which had been overlooked during the scene investigation, was discovered by a co-worker while he was cleaning the stall. Examination of the wound revealed evidence of contact range firing. A markedly deformed bullet was recovered from the head, consistent with the use of the home-made gun. These findings, along with further police investigation and review of the past medical history, indicated that the manner of death was a suicide.     

Matching bullets to bone impact signatures.

When bone is penetrated or perforated by a bullet, the bullet's impacting surface is often uniquely modeled by the fractured bone. Reconstructing bone with simple super-imposition of the bullet's contour lines allows matching of a particular bullet to its specific bone defect.     

Confusing injury findings in a suicidal gunshot fired to the chest from a carbine with a sawed-off barrel

The stellate bullet entrance wound is one of the facultative features of a contact shot. For the formation of a star-shaped wound two factors are of special importance: first, an extensive bony support underlying the skin in the entrance region, and second, a strong propellant charge of the cartridge fired. Contact shots to the precordial region usually do not cause stellate entrance wounds, even if high-powered rifle ammunition is used. In the reported case, an injury pattern was observed that was not in line with normal findings and seemed confusing at first. Following a suicidal gunshot to the chest from a sawed-off carbine 98a (cal. 8 x 57 Js), a 4.5 cm wide, gaping bullet entrance wound with radiating tears was found. Instead of the usual pocket, the anterior thoracic wall showed a fist-sized area of destruction with extensive undermining of the subcutis. Not far from the entrance hole, a rib fragment had become displaced retrogradely thus perforating the skin from the inside out. The unusual pattern of findings could be explained by the fact that the barrel had been sawed off: as a result of this manipulation, a considerable part of the propellant charge had been converted outside the barrel, i.e. in the initial section of the bullet path.     

Pump-gun as a weapon. Type of injuries, prohibition of weapons

Pumpguns are shotguns with pump action whose injuries and wound mechanisms have several special features: extremely high kinetic energy of the shot (2500 to 3500 J) frequent cases of "Kr?nlein shots" (exenteration of the brain) punchmark/imprint immediately adjacent to the entrance wound from the front of the pipe magazine exit wounds from buckshot may be similar to pellet entrance injuries from a distant shotgun discharge the use of various shotgun cartridges (plastic ammunition, slug bullet, various lead pellets) within the same weapon. The change in the Austrian gun law and the banning of the pumpgun in 1995 is also discussed in the article.     

Fatal arrow wounds

Two instances of fatal arrow wounds are described, one by a field-tip (target arrowhead), the other by a broadhead (large-game hunting arrowhead). The essential characteristics of the two types of wounds are discussed. In particular, the field-tip can closely simulate a bullet wound by causing a circular entrance hole with abraded margins, whereas the broadhead can create unusual radiating incised wounds.     

Popliteal artery bullet embolism in a case of homicide: a case report and review of the tangible literature

Bullet embolism is a well known but a relatively rare phenomenon in common medicolegal autopsy practice. We present a homicide case of a bullet embolism to the left popliteal artery with interesting trajectory of projectile through the chest wall and right heart ventricle into the aortic lumen. Since in our presented case obvious homicidal manner of death was in question, discovery of bullet was an obligatory part of investigation in order to positively identify the responsible firearm. Detection of the missile transported through the circulation requires very thorough autopsy examination, especially if X-ray equipment is not available. As in all other cases in which initial bullet trajectory is changed in the body, the very important part of the medicolegal autopsy in cases accompanied with missile embolism, is to determine direction of the first part of the bullet's trajectory, because this indicates the position of the axis of the weapon barrel in the moment of firing (if there was no external ricochet), taking into consideration the posture of the victim and the location of the shooting person in the same moment. A review of the tangible literature is given.     

Suicidal Shotgun Wound Employing a Shotgun Barrel,a Shotgun Shell,and a BB*

Abstract: A vast majority of firearms‐related suicides involve the conventional use of a properly functioning, intact firearm. Occasionally, forensic investigators encounter a case wherein the firearm suicide victim employs some form of unconventional use of a weapon, or utilizes an unusual weapon type. In this case report, the authors present an unusual case in which a man committed suicide by using a shotgun shell, a shotgun barrel (separate from the rest of the gun), and a BB. Some confusion as to the cause and manner of death was present during the initial scene investigation. Examination at autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a shotgun wound of the chest and prompted further scene investigation. Therefore, this case serves as another example of the importance of cooperation between scene investigators and forensic pathologists when investigating a death. A review of suicidal firearm cases using unconventional means and/or firearms is presented.     

Homicide-suicide by a single gunshot to the head

Apart from typical suicides, there are sometimes unusual deaths from gunshots to the head. The presented case is a double death from the autopsy material of the Institute of Legal Medicine in Berlin. The report deals with a murder-suicide of a man, who killed himself and his 2-year-old daughter by a single gunshot. After having administered a tranquilizer to the child, he held her head to his own and fired a contact shot to his right temple so that the bullet passed through both heads.     

Formation of a "crow's foot pattern" in the smoke residue in homicide by forehead gunshot injury

We report a "crowsfoot-like" pattern in the smoke marks around the entrance of a close-range bullet wound in the center of the forehead; the weapon in this homicide was a revolver. This pattern only occurs if the facial muscles that form expression are completely contracted at the moment the shooting occurs and if the victim expects the event. The wrinkles gather around the entrance of the bullet, and this wound pattern may indicate that the shot was expected by the victim and represent a piece of the mosaic that might help clarify the circumstances in a case.     

Detection of bone and bone-plus-bullet particles in backspatter from close-range shots to heads.

A victim was shot in the head with a 9-mm Smith & Wesson pistol using Winchester Silvertip hollow-point ammunition. Of interest in this case was the distance from the muzzle of the weapon to the victim's head, since the wound characteristics were equivocal for firing distance. Two other handguns (revolvers) were involved in this shooting, in addition to a revolver owned by the victim. The handguns were sampled using tape lifts, and the casings were sampled by washing them in distilled water, followed by vacuum filtration of the washing water through 0.2-microns-pore Nuclepore filters. These materials were examined by scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. Calcium-phosphorous (bone) particles were detected on the 9-mm Smith & Wesson pistol, on two casings found at the scene, and on one of the revolvers. Two of the calcium-phosphorous particles on the casings had associated bullet fragments. Test shots on live pigs destined for slaughter showed that bone particles are a feature of backspatter from close-range shots to heads. Contamination of nearby surfaces by bone fragments and bone-plus-bullet fragments, as well as other organic debris, appears to be quite heavy.     

Patterned imprint mark due to the folded shoulder stock: A possible finding in contact shots from submachine guns

The muzzle imprint (barrel mark) is a pressure abrasion typically associated with contact shots. Apart from the contours of the actual muzzle profile, other constructional parts such as the front sight and/or the recoil spring guide of semiautomatic pistols may be imprinted next to the bullet entrance wound. In some types of submachine guns the shoulder stock can be folded forward so that its end partly encircles the muzzle. If such a weapon was in contact with the skin at the instant of discharge, a corresponding contusion mark is to be expected. The imprint configuration may point to the type of weapon and to the way in which the gun had been held when firing the shot. The paper presents the injury pattern in a 36-year-old man who committed suicide with a Scorpion SA Vz 61 submachine gun cal. 7.65 mm Browning from former Czechoslovakia.     

Less‐Lethal Hybrid Ammunition Wounds: A Forensic Assessment Introducing Bullet‐Skin‐Bone Entity

Abstract: Agencies all around the world now use less‐lethal weapons with homogeneous missiles such as bean bag or rubber bullets. Contusions and sometimes significant morbidity have been reported. This study focuses on wounds caused by hybrid ammunition with the pathologists’ flap‐by‐flap procedure. Twenty‐four postmortem human subjects were used, and lesions caused on frontal, temporal, sternal, and left tibial regions by a 40‐mm hybrid ammunition (33 g weight) were evaluated on various distance range. The 50% risk of fractures occurred at 79.2 m/sec on the forehead, 72.9 m/sec on the temporal, 72.5 m/sec on the sternum, and 76.7 m/sec on the tibia. Skin lesions were not predictors of bone fracture. There was no correlation between soft and bone tissue observed lesions and impact velocity (correlated to distance range). Lesions observed with hybrid ammunition were the result of bullet‐skin‐bone entity as the interaction of the projectile on skin and bone tissues.