Abstract
We report an unusual case of suicide in which three 7.65 caliber projectiles were found in the single gunshot wound to the head of a 53-year-old man. Based on data collected at the death scene, CT scan, autopsy findings, and ballistics analysis, the events were reconstructed as follows: two 7.65 mm rounds had already been fired from the 9 mm Makarov pistol the subject was using but, being a smaller caliber, the cartridges had slipped forward and lodged within the barrel. When a third 7.65 mm cartridge was chambered and the gun fired for the third time, the nose of the last bullet hit the lodged bullets and all three rounds were propelled out of the muzzle in tandem as a single shot. Ballistic investigations confirmed that the kinetic energy of the three tandem bullets would have been sufficient to perforate the skull. In cases of gunshot wounds where the manner of death is unclear, a number of well-described circumstantial parameters, such as an atypical anatomical location of the gunshot, unusual firearm, or ammunition, as well as ambiguous autopsy findings, can raise doubts about the manner of death. In very rare cases, despite a single entrance wound, two or more bullets are recovered from the body, fired by the same weapon at the same time (the so-called “tandem bullet” phenomenon). Injuries by “tandem bullets” have crucial implications in gunshot deaths because of the mismatch between the number of entrance and exit wounds and the number of bullets found in or near the body.
References
Ampanozi G, Schwendener N, Krauskopf A, Thali MJ, Bartsch C. Incidental occult gunshot wound detected by postmortem computed tomography. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2013;9:68–72.
Austin AE, Guddat SS, Tsokos M, Gilbert JD, Byard RW. Multiple injuries in suicide simulating homicide: report of three cases. J Forensic Leg Med. 2013;20:601–4.
Tsokos M, Voigt Z, Ehrlich E. Atypical gunshot entry wound. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2012;8:460–2.
Hayashi T, Gapert R, Tsokos M, Hartwig S. Suicide with two shots to the head using a rare ‘Velo-Dog’ pocket revolver. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2013;9:265–9.
Bentley AJ, Busuttil A, Clifton B, Sibbald P. Homicidal tandem bullet wound of the chest. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1997;18:56–9.
Jentzen JM, Lutz M, Templin R. Tandem bullet versus multiple gunshot wounds. J Forensic Sci. 1995;40:893–5.
du Toit-Prinsloo L, Morris NK, Saayman G. Tandem bullet injury: an unusual variant of an unusual injury. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2013;10:262–5.
Lilienstein DA, Van Gelder CM. A mystery: one wound, multiple bullets. J Forensic Leg Med. 2008;15:343–5.
Mihailovic Z, Savic S, Atanasijevic T. Firearm suicide committed using an unusual combination of tandem missiles: a bullet, a nail, and a screw. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2007;28:220–2.
Timperman J, Cnops L. Tandem bullet in the head in a case of suicide. Med Sci Law. 1975;15:280–3.
Hayashi T, Hartwig S, Tsokos M, Oesterhelweg L. Postmortem multislice computed tomography (pmMSCT) imaging of hangman’s fracture. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2014;10:3–8.
Ersoy G, Gurler AS, Ozbay M. Upon a failure to equal entry and exit wounds: a possible case of tandem bullets in view of the literature. J Forensic Sci. 2012;57:1129–33.
Simmons GT. Findings in gunshot wounds from tandem projectiles. J Forensic Sci. 1997;42:678–81.
Di Maio VJM. Gunshot wounds: practical aspects of firearms, ballistics, and forensic techniques. 2nd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC; 1999.
Rabl W, Katzgraber F, Kneubuehl BP. Ballistic aspects of tandem-loaded cartridges of identical caliber. Int J Legal Med. 1999;112:58–61.
Ellis PS. Fatal gunshot injury caused by an unusual projectile-a barrel-cleaning brush as a tandem bullet. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1997;18:168–71.
Itabashi HH, Andrews JM, Tomiyasu U, Erlich SS, Sathyavagiswaran L. Forensic neuropathology: a practical review of the fundamentals. 1st ed. Burlington, San Diego, London: Academic Press; 2007.
Fackler ML. Findings in gunshot wounds from tandem projectiles. J Forensic Sci. 1997;42:1214.
Sinha JK, Bhattacharyya CN. Identification of tandem bullets. Med Sci Law. 1989;29:249–50.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tattoli, L., Schmid, S. & Tsokos, M. Three rounds as “tandem bullets”: unusual findings in a case of a suicidal gunshot to the head. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 10, 613–618 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-014-9591-2
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-014-9591-2