title: Pistol thrown to the ground by shooter after fatal self inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
abstract: We report the case of a 46-year-old man found dead in his apartment in a chair with a gunshot wound in his chest. All circumstances pointed to suicide as the manner of death. Finding the weapon, a SIG Sauer P228 pistol, about 2 m away from the decedent with an obstacle between weapon and corpse however generated speculation about third party involvement. Scene investigations and ballistic calculations showed that with a high probability the weapon must have been purposefully thrown away by the decedent after he fired the lethal gunshot.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Berne, Buehlstrasse 20, 3012 Berne, Switzerland. wolfzech@googlemail.com
authors.forename: Wolf-Dieter
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Zech
authors.forename: Beat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kneubühl
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thali
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bolliger
mesh_terms: D005389:Firearms; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013405:Suicide; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000209:etiology*