title: Fourteen shots for a suicide.
abstract: A 56-year-old man is discovered unconscious in a pool of blood in the kitchen of his house. According to findings, the man used a 22 long Rifle to fire 14 shots at his thorax with trajectories going from front to back, from right to left and on a nearly horizontal level. All the projectiles got into the left front side of his thorax and came out just under the back of his left armpit. One of them then got through his left arm and fractured his left humerus. According to the findings made on the premises and the position of the bloodstains, we think that man put his rifle against the wall, resting on a pipe. He fired, unloading two clips into his thorax. He had to handle the bolt of the rifle before each shot. To reload, he took the bullets which were on the nearby table on which blood marks can be seen. When reloading at a certain moment, he sat down in his armchair and when he wanted to stand up, he leaned on the armrests, on which blood marks can be seen. The last bullet was probably the one which went through his left arm, preventing him from keeping on shooting. His death, caused by a hypovolemical shock, was obviously very slow.
authors.affiliation: Institut Medico-legale, Liege, Belgium.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boxho
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy; D001530:Belgium; D001801:Blood Stains; D002423:Cause of Death; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011187:Posture; D013405:Suicide; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000175:diagnosis*