Prior exposure of the entrance wound region from clothing is uncommon in firearm suicides.
Int J Legal Med
; 110(2): 79-81, 1997.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-9168324
ABSTRACT
According to an old rule still in use, gunshot suicides will rarely shoot through the clothing but will pull it aside to bare the skin. Thus, a bullet defect in the clothing would be an indicator for homicide or an accident. A total of 138 clearly defined gunshot suicides were analysed with regard to this topic. The thorax, which is commonly covered by textile, was the target for 27 suicides (19.5%). Of these 27 persons, 25 had fired through the clothing and 2 had placed the muzzle directly on the exposed skin, which represents a relative frequency of only 7%. Special features such as thick clothing or an affected state of mind did not appear to influence this behavior. Consequently, the perforation of textile does not suggest homicide or an accident - it is not applicable as a criterion for distinguishing different modes of death. Only in the rare cases when a gunshot victim is found with intact clothing covering the entrance wound can this finding be interpreted as an indication for suicide.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Suicídio
/
Ferimentos por Arma de Fogo
/
Armas de Fogo
/
Vestuário
Limite:
Humans
País como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
1997
Tipo de documento:
Article