Citation

Berens S, Ketterer T, Kneubuehl BP, Thali MJ, Ross S, Bolliger SA. Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 2011; 7(2): 209-212.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Buehlstrasse 20, 3012, Bern, Switzerland, sandra.berens@irm.unibe.ch.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s12024-010-9201-x

PMID

21076946

Abstract

Determination of the manner of death in case of intraoral firearm wounds can be a challenge, especially if the circumstances of the incident are unclear and crime scene investigation is inadequate. It is a well-known fact that the mouth is one of the selected sites for suicide with firearms. Homicidal shooting through the mouth is said to be rare, but does occur, and can be mistaken for a suicide. For discrimination between suicide and homicide in cases of intraoral firearm wounds, some useful points are the site of entry wound, the direction of the internal bullet path, the range of fire and the circumstances of death. We demonstrate these points in a case of a homicidal gunshot to the mouth assessed by both classical autopsy and post-mortem CT (PMCT).

Language: en