Self-Inflicted Gunshots

In regard to choice of weapons, handguns are used more often than rifles or shotguns. Traditionally, the preferred method used by women was an overdose of drugs. While most suicidal gunshot wounds are contact wounds, a small (1 to 3%) but significant number are of intermediate range. Most people who commit suicide with a firearm, like suicide victims in general, do not leave a note; notes are only left in approximately 25% of all suicides. Therefore, the absence of a note does not indicate that a death was not a suicide. In firearm deaths, the individual may attempt to make the suicide appear to be an accident. This generally takes two forms. The first of these is the “gun cleaning accident.” The individual is found dead of a gunshot wound with gun cleaning equipment neatly laid out beside them. The proof that one is dealing with a suicide and not an accident is usually the nature of the wound — contact. An individual does not place a gun against the head or chest and then pull the trigger in an attempt to clean the weapon. The author has never seen a death caused by a self-inflicted wound incurred while “cleaning” a weapon that he believed to truly be an accident. In firearm deaths, the individual may attempt to make the suicide appear to be an accident. This generally takes two forms. The first of these is the “gun cleaning accident.” The individual is found dead of a gunshot wound with gun cleaning equipment neatly laid out beside them. The proof that one is dealing with a suicide and not an accident is usually the nature of the wound — contact. An individual does not place a gun against the head or chest and then pull the trigger in an attempt to clean the weapon. The author has never seen a death caused by a self-inflicted wound incurred while “cleaning” a weapon that he believed to truly be an accident. In firearm deaths, the individual may attempt to make the suicide appear to be an accident. This generally takes two forms. The first of these is the “gun cleaning accident.” The individual is found dead of a gunshot wound with gun cleaning equipment neatly laid out beside them. The proof that one is dealing with a suicide and not an accident is usually the nature of the wound — contact. An individual does not place a gun against the head or chest and then pull the trigger in an attempt to clean the weapon. The author has never seen a death caused by a self-inflicted wound incurred while “cleaning” a weapon that he believed to truly be an accident. The second way an individual may attempt to make a suicide appear as an accident is the “hunting accident.” Here the individual goes hunting and is subsequently found dead of a gunshot wound. Again, the nature of the wound (contact) will indicate that one is dealing with a suicide. Self-inflicted wounds to the chest and abdomen from rifles and shotguns in individuals standing at the time they shoot themselves often have a characteristic trajectory that acts as confirmatory evidence that one is dealing with a suicide. Because the victim is “hunched” over the gun, the trajectory of the bullet or pellets is downward and not the upward path one would expect. Thus, the trajectory of the bullet or pellets through the body will be downward and right to left. If the individual uses the left hand to fire the weapon, grasping the muzzle with the right hand, they will rotate the body clockwise, and the path of the bullet or pellets, while still downward, will be from left to right. As virtually all hunting is done with long arms, the trajectory of the bullet and pellets through the body is important in “hunting accident” cases. The location of the self-inflicted wound varies depending on the type of the weapon, the sex of the victim, and whether the victim is right- or left-handed. When individuals shoot themselves, they do not necessarily hold the weapon the same way they would if they were firing the weapon at a target. Commonly, they will hold a handgun with the fingers wrapped around the back of the butt, using the thumb to depress the trigger, firing the weapon. Even if there is no visible powder or soot deposition on the hand, analysis for primer residues is often positive. In the head, the most common site for a handgun entrance wound is the temple. Although most right-handed individuals shoot themselves in the right temple and left-handed individuals in the left temple, this pattern is not absolute.  There are people, however, who will be different and shoot themselves on the top of the head, in the ear, in the eye, etc. There has been seen a number of unquestionable cases of suicide in which individuals have shot themselves in the back of the head. These have occurred not only with handguns but also with rifles and shotguns. The fact that a wound is in an unusual location does not necessarily mean that it cannot be self-inflicted, though it is wise to always start with the presumption that such a case is a homicide. In suicides with long arms (rifles and shotguns), just as with handguns, the preferred sites are the head, chest, and abdomen, in that order. There is, however, very little difference in the percentage of head wounds between the sexes. The percentage of people shooting themselves in the head with rifles and shotguns is not as great as with handguns. This may be due to the fearsome reputation of these weapons. People do not mind shooting themselves in the head but do not want to “blow their head off.” Some individuals construct devices to shoot themselves at a distance or in unusual areas of the body. These devices may be as simple as clamping a gun to a chair and running a string through a pulley to the trigger, to elaborate devices employing electric motors and timers. In deaths due to long arms, just as in those with handguns, one should examine the hands for the presence of soot as well as test for primer residues. If soot is present, it will be on the hand used to steady the muzzle against the body and is due to blowback from the muzzle. The area involved is the thumb, index finger, and connecting web of skin. Suicides in which multiple gunshot wounds are present are uncommon, but not rare. These wounds may involve only one area, e.g., the head, or multiple areas, such as the head and chest. Multiple gunshot wounds confined exclusively to the head are the least common, whereas those of the chest are the most common. A lack of knowledge of anatomy, flinching at the time the trigger is pulled, defective ammunition, ammunition of the wrong caliber, or just missing a vital organ, account for such multiple wounds. Wounds that may appear to be fatal on initial examination may not be so on autopsy. Thus, in an individual who shot himself four times in the chest and once in the head with a .22-caliber pistol, one would assume that the head wound was the fatal shot. However, the autopsy revealed that the bullet flattened out against the frontal bone, and death was due to one of the four gunshot wounds of the chest, with one bullet going through the heart.

An individual, wishing to make absolutely sure he would die, placed a noose around his neck, tied one end to a support, and then shot himself in the head. The bullet itself would have been fatal, but as he collapsed, he suspended himself by the neck. If he had survived any length of time from the gunshot wound, he would have died of hanging.

The most unusual case of this kind the author has seen was a young woman who shot herself in the chest with a revolver while standing at the end of a pier. She was seen to collapse immediately after the discharge of the weapon, with the gun falling onto the pier, and the woman tumbling backward into the harbor. The body was recovered a few hours later. At autopsy, she was found to have a through-and-through gunshot wound of the left breast. The bullet did not enter the chest cavity and did not injure any major blood vessel. The cause of death was drowning.

Articles and lecturers commonly make mention of the deposition of highvelocity blood droplets (backspatter) on the back of the hand used to fire a handgun in cases of suicide. Such a spray may in fact be present not only on the hand firing the gun, but also on the back of the hand used to steady the muzzle. Misclassification of suicides as accidents is more common in coroner systems than medical examiner systems. Guns do not discharge by themselves while being held. Someone has to pull the trigger. A gun does not “magically” go off. The only exception to such a ruling of homicide would be if the individual holding the weapon was a very young child (? 8–9 years or younger) who did not realize the consequences of pulling the trigger. Unfortunately, in our society, “children” of 10, 11, and 12 yrs of age are committing murder for money, drugs, to gain a reputation, for gang initiation or out of plain “meanness.” Twelve- and thirteen-year-old contract killers exist. Handguns that will discharge on dropping fall into five general categories:

1.  Single-action revolvers

2.  Old or cheaply made double-action revolvers

3.  Derringers

4.  Striker-operated automatics

5.  Certain external hammer automatics

Unlike double-action revolvers, the hammer of a singleaction revolver must be cocked manually before pressure on the trigger will release the hammer. The firing pin in this weapon may be either integral with the hammer or in the frame separate from the hammer. Whatever the case, single-action revolvers have traditionally been dangerous in that, when the hammer is down, the firing pin projects through the breech face, resting on the primer of the cartridge aligned with the barrel. A slam-fire is the discharge of a firearm upon closing the action without the pulling of the trigger. They may be caused by a protruding or overly sensitive primer; a firing pin that protrudes because it is either stuck or failed to retract; a weak, broken or absent firing pin spring; inadequate headspace. Slam-fires are most commonly associated with self-loading military rifles in which civilian ammunition is being used as civilian primers are generally more sensitive to detonation than military primers.

Suicide is not acceptable in society, and thus there is often strenuous objection to the ruling of a death as suicide. The objections can vary from the naive “he wouldn’t do such a thing” to a sophisticated and complicated explanation for why a weapon “accidentally” discharged. These objections can be motivated by guilt, religious belief, social pressure, or avarice. Individuals may contest the ruling of suicide by stating that the deceased, though previously depressed, had recently been happy. In fact, it is not uncommon for individuals who have decided to commit suicide to show an elevation in mood before the suicide. After all, they have solved their problems—they are going to kill themselves.

Acknowledgements:

The Police Department;

www.politie.nl and a Chief Inspector – Mr. Erik Akerboom     ©

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