Citation

Kolopp M, Blum A, Leupold MA, Martrille L. J. Forensic Sci. 2019; 64(2): 629-633.

Affiliation

Service de Médecine Légale, CHRU Nancy, Nancy, F-54 000 postal, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13897

PMID

30144057

Abstract

In case of suicide, the presence of multiple entrance wounds is always suspicious. We report the case of a man who committed suicide by shooting himself three times in the chest and the skull with a submachine gun. The weapon seems to have been initially pointed in the precordium area with a lethal lesion of the proximal aorta. Two other projectiles were fired by the weapon and hit the neck and the skull of the deceased. The presence of three entrance wounds despite a first fatal wound could finally be explained by the characteristics of the weapon and wounds. Most suicides related to multiple gunshot wounds are explained by a first nonlethal shot but the use of an automatic weapon can also be found. In these last cases, medicolegal and criminalistics aspects become important in differentiating suicide and homicide.

© 2018 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

automatic rifle; firearms; forensic pathology; forensic sciences; gunshot wounds; multiple wounds; suicide