NCJ Number
246077
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 58 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2013 Pages: 537-539
Date Published
March 2013
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Researchers presentto the best of their knowledge for the first timea case of a 54-year old, male, liver cancer sufferer, who under the influence of alcohol, discharged his revolver three times.
Abstract
Multishot firearm suicides are relatively rare and suggest the possibility of homicide. Physical activity following gunshots to the head, the neck, and the thorax does occur, and immediate incapacitation does not occur in every fatal gunshot wound that penetrates the head or perforates the heart. Cancer patients appear to be at increased suicide risk, but alcohol intoxication is less common in such cases. Researchers presentto the best of their knowledge for the first timea case of a 54-year old, male, liver cancer sufferer, who under the influence of alcohol, discharged his revolver three times, suffered, among other wounds, a heart-perforating wound, and died after c. 1.5 h, being able to talk until just before he died. This case underlines the importance of keeping an open critical mind when dealing with multiple-gunshot fatalities, especially when posttraumatic physical activity might be crucial in differentiating homicide from suicide. Abstract published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons.