Multiple gunshot suicide

Multiple gunshot suicide occurs when an individual commits suicide by firearm and succeeds in inflicting two or more gunshots upon himself before incapacitation ensues. It does not include suicides where the firearms are operated by other persons, such as suicide by cop.

Multiple gunshot suicides engender controversy because of the popular misconception that it is impossible for an individual to inflict more than one gunshot upon herself or himself. Because of this many are associated with conspiracy theories, which hold that those individuals actually were the victims of a homicide. Forensic medicine has discovered, however, that suicides by firearm involving multiple gunshots, although uncommon, are by no means rare; as many as eight percent ( 8%) (nearly one in every twelve) of suicides by firearm involve multiple gunshots. Suicides involving as many as six self-inflicted gunshots have been documented in the literature.

Incapacitation from a gunshot injury results from a decrease in the functioning of the central nervous system. In a suicide by firearm, immediate incapacitation can be achieved by direct disruption to brain stem tissue. Rapid incapacitation can be achieved indirectly by cerebral hypoxemia resulting from massive bleeding from the heart, the thoracic aorta, or the pulmonary artery. Damage to other major organs - the lungs, kidneys, liver, spleen - results only in delayed incapacitation. Incapacitation by a shot to the head is achieved when the bullet penetrates the telencephalon; however, numerous bullet trajectories, including a shot between the eyes, do not achieve this penetration.

One particular case has been documented from Australia. In February 1995, a man committed suicide on parkland in Canberra, Australia. He took a pump action shotgun and shot himself in the chest. The load passed through the chest without hitting a rib, and went out the other side. He then walked fifteen meters, reloaded, leaned the shotgun against his throat, and shot his throat and part of his jaw. Breathing through this gunshot-inflicted tracheotomy, he reloaded, walked 136 meters to a hill slope, lay down on the slope, held the gun against his chest with his hands and operated the trigger with his toes. This shot entered the thoracic cavity and demolished the heart, killing him.

Literature

 * T. O. Marsh, E. R. Brown, R. P. Burkhardt and J. H. Davis, "Two six-shot suicides in close geographic and temporal proximity," Journal of Forensic Science 34, no. 2 (March 1989): 491-94.


 * F. Introna and J. E. Smialek, "Suicide from multiple gunshot wounds," American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 10, no. 4 (December 1989): 275-84.


 * B. Karger and B. Brinkmann, gunshot suicides: potential for physical activity and medico-legal aspects," International Journal of Legal Medicine 110, no. 4 (June 1997): 188-92.


 * Phillippe Jouvin, Fabrice Brion, Frederic Tessiere, Michel Durigon, "Prolonged Activity After an Ultimately Fatal Gunshot Wound to the Heart: Case Report," American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 20, no. 1(March 1999): 10-12.


 * G. Kury, J. Weiner, and J. V. Duval, "Multiple self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head: report of a case and review of the literature," American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 21, no. 1 (March 2000): 32-35.


 * Peter B. Herdson, "Shotgun suicide with a difference," The Medical Journal of Australia 173 (2000): 604-5.


 * M. Zahid Bashir, "Multiple gunshot suicide in a female," Annals of King Edward Medical College (Lahore, Pakistan, October-December 2000).


 * Jean-Sébastien Raul, Caroline Deck, Franck Meyer, Annie Geraut, Rémy Willinger and Bertrand Ludes, "A finite element model investigation of gunshot injury," International Journal of Legal Medicine 121, no. 2 (March 2007): 143-46.