Gunshot residues found at the exit wound: a case report.

Weber, Anja; Kneubühl, Beat P.; Rabl, Walter (2023). Gunshot residues found at the exit wound: a case report. International journal of legal medicine, 137(2), pp. 587-593. Springer 10.1007/s00414-022-02842-w

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Gunshot residues (GSRs) play an important role in forensic investigations of gun-related violence. The presence of GSRs has been described to help to identify the bullet entry area, as it was supposed not to be found at exit wounds. This report details the suicidal headshot of an 84-year-old male where unburned tube-like, cuboid and flake-formed powder particles have been found not only at the inside of the muzzle but also circular around the exit wound. With very short-barrelled weapons, it must be expected that part of the propellant charge leaves the barrel unburned behind the bullet. In contrast to that, the barrel length of the used weapon should lead to a complete burn-up of powder particles. The surprisingly large number of unburned powder particles present at the exit wound of the injury gave reason for further investigation to understand the underlying ballistic aspects and outlines the importance of having a close look at incidence scene photos during an investigation.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Further Contribution)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Legal Medicine > Forensic Physics (Ballistics)

UniBE Contributor:

Kneubühl, Beat P.

ISSN:

1437-1596

Publisher:

Springer

Language:

English

Submitter:

Pubmed Import

Date Deposited:

08 Jun 2022 11:44

Last Modified:

07 Feb 2023 00:12

Publisher DOI:

10.1007/s00414-022-02842-w

PubMed ID:

35657432

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Ballistics Exit wound Gunshot residues Gunshot wound Suicide

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/170487

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/170487

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