For March 1999 issue

SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION

SUICIDE WITH A FIREARM

-Dr. Anil Aggrawal

This time I am recommending the readers a very good book on the forensic analysis of skull that has recently come in the market. It is “Forensic Analysis of the Skull” edited by Mehmet Ya(ar ((can and Richard P. Helmer (Editor: Please reproduce figure 1.jpg here). This book explores all aspects of the analysis of the skull, and I am sure the readers would enjoy the book.

Regarding this month’s crime story. I am going to tell you how we distinguish a case of suicide when the suicide has been done with the help of a firearm. To be sure, it is not very easy to distinguish between a homicidal and accidental firearm wound. Clever murderers are known to kill their victims with guns and then arrange the scene in such a way, that the onlookers think the deceased took his own life. For instance, they may put the gun in the deceased’s hands themselves. On the contrary, many suicides are known to take their lives in such a way that it looks like a murder. Many of you might wonder why anybody would do such a thing, especially when the person was going away from this world. The answer is that suicide is not looked after positively in our society and people don’t want that after their death anybody should speak bad about them. They want sympathy from all the people. So if it appeared they had taken their own lives, nobody would sympathize with them. Rather everybody would speak bad about them. Instead if it may be made to appear that the person was killed homicidally, everybody would sympathize with him. Not only this, there are certain life insurance policies which don’t pay up if it is proved that the person has taken his own life. On the other hand if it was a murder they would easily pay up. So the person before killing himself makes sure that his near and dear ones at least get his insurance policy money. Thus it may not be very easy to distinguish between the two types of wounds – homicidal and suicidal gunshot wounds.

There are certain helpful points though. A person who commits suicide can not keep the firearm far away from his body. On the contrary a person who kills another with a gun usually does this from a far away point. Coming near would cause unnecessary scuffle, so every murderer is quite happy keeping distance from his victim and killing him from a distance. This introduces a very interesting differentiating point between the two types of wounds. All firearms work by burning gunpowder. When the trigger is pressed, it strikes the base of the cartridge which contains the gunpowder. The gunpowder is ignited; it releases lot of smoke and gases, and these gases are ultimately responsible for propelling the bullet out of the cartridge. Needless to say that the smoke also travels along with the bullet for some distance. But it travels only for a certain distance, say about 2 to 3 inches in small firearms such as revolvers and pistols. And if the firearm is kept within this distance of the body while shooting, this smoke gets deposited around the wound margins. This is technically known as blackening, and is a very good indication that the firearm was very close to the body when it was fired. See the adjacent figure (Editor please reproduce figure Ted_II_1004_1.jpg here). This figure shows a close up gunshot wound of the right temple. The wound is deeply surrounded by blackening. Just by looking at the wound, an expert forensic pathologist can say that the firearm was fired from very near the body, and hence probably it was a suicidal wound.

If the wound is made by a shotgun, then we can take help of another parameter. Shotgun contains pellets and these pellets disperse as they travel farther in air. Compare the situation to that of a group of people going out of a party to their houses. Initially all of them are together; gradually they part their ways and become more and more distant from each other. Similarly initially all pellets are together, but gradually they “fan” out farther and farther. Pathologists have mathematical formulas by which they can see the distance between the individual pellets and can tell the distance from which the shotgun was fired. They would go to the body, closely examine the wound and measure the diameter of the whole wound made by the shotgun. The larger the diameter the longer the distance from where the gun was fired. Look at the next figure (Editor please reproduce fig Ted_II_1005_2.jpg here). This shows the shotgun wound of the chest. The wound is fairly big and some pellets have shown individual entries also. To me it does not look like as if the person had made it himself. In any case, suicidal injuries with shotgun are very rare, because it is very difficult to position the shotgun in such a way so as to kill oneself.

Severe destruction of the skin and bones sometimes tells us that the gun was very close to the body and hence we can say it was a suicidal wound. Look at the next figure (Editor please reproduce fig Ted_II_1005_3.jpg here). It shows the figure of a man who had killed himself with a rifle. Note the amount of destruction of the head and face. This clearly indicates that it was a suicidal wound of the head.

No doubt determination of the fact whether a given wound was suicidal or homicidal is very important. If it was a homicidal wound the police has to find a culprit. On the other hand if it was a suicidal wound the police does not have to look for a culprit. So the whole investigation of a case of death depends on the fact whether the given case was of suicide or homicide.

Common sense tells us that if a person shows two firearm wounds on his body then they can not be suicidal. Are you wondering why? Well, again apply common sense. If the person fired at himself, how in the world can he fire on himself again. Won’t he be dead? On the other hand if the person was killed by someone else, he can go on firing even on a dying or even on an already dead body. So literally you can find tens of gunshot wounds in a case of homicide, while in a case of suicide you would find just one wound. Well, in most cases, this is true, but this is not to say that multiple suicidal firearms wounds are not found. An example is seen in the adjacent figure (editor please reproduce figure Ted_II_1005_4.jpg here). This is the case of a man who shows two distinct shotgun wounds of the head. Initially it was thought that it could only be a homicide. But careful analysis later showed that it was a case of suicide. The deceased first hit him on the lower part of the chin. But he did not die. So he returned to his house, reloaded the shotgun and then returned to the barn where he completed the act by shooting the gun into his head! Who would have thought it was a case of suicide. But only a careful deduction and analysis could solve this difficult riddle.

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(Dr. Anil Aggrawal is a professor of Forensic Medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi-110002. His E-mail is dr_anil@hotmail.com and his Website address is:

http://members.tripod.com/~Prof_Anil_Aggrawal/index.htm)

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(Note to the Editor: All figures in the article have to be taken from the accompanying floppy.)

Dr. Anil Aggrawal, M.D.

Professor of Forensic Medicine

Maulana Azad Medical College

New Delhi‑110002