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Suicide with an unusual home-manufactured firearm

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Abstract

A 22-year-old male with a medical history of depression was found lying on his right side with a pool of blood around his head. A pistol-shaped metal device was found next to the right hand of the deceased. Examination of the body revealed the presence of a gunshot wound to the head. The entrance wound was located in the right temporal area and was partially surrounded by a semicircular muzzle imprint. Analysis of the firearm revealed a home-manufactured device constructed from the posterior part of a captive bolt gun chamber containing a firing pin. The front part of an original captive bolt’s cylinder was replaced with a conical iron tube, which could be detached from the chamber by an unscrewing action. The tube was unrifled and drilled in order to accept standard 9 mm ammunition. A hollow rectangular piece of metal was welded to the posterior part of the chamber perpendicularly and used as a grip. Cases of injuries caused by different types of captive bolt guns are well documented in the forensic literature. However, conversions of captive bolts in projectile-discharging devices or their use in the construction of zip guns, as well as the injuries produced by such types of firearms, are extremely rare in forensic and medico-legal practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Forensic Medicine, Clinical Center of Vojvodina, Medical Faculty, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk-Veljkova 1, Novi Sad, 21 000, Serbia

    Igor Veselinović & Dušan Vapa

  2. Department of Anatomy, Medical Faculty, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk-Veljkova 3, Novi Sad, 21000, Serbia

    Sonja Žigić

Authors
  1. Igor Veselinović
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  2. Sonja Žigić
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  3. Dušan Vapa
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Correspondence to Igor Veselinović.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Veselinović, I., Žigić, S. & Vapa, D. Suicide with an unusual home-manufactured firearm. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 15, 288–291 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-018-0052-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-018-0052-1

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