Self-inflicted Firearm Discharge from Heating Using a Gas Burner.
A male in his 70s was found lying dead in the living room of his house. A gunshot entrance wound was observed in the left orbit, with a lead slug and wadding left in the skull, which exhibited fatal cranio-cerebral trauma. A cartridge had been discharged from a handmade launcher, or zip gun, that had been fixed to a spare gun barrel on a pipe chair, by heating the launcher from the side using a gas burner. The deceased had owned guns for hunting in the past and had returned the license, but he had retained a spare barrel and live cartridges at home. In this unique case of suicide, a zip gun was discharged by heating with a gas burner.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan.
Motoki
M
Osawa
Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan.
Yutaka
Y
Matsushima
Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan.|Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Uttar Pradesh Rural Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Academic Block, UP RIMS & R Saifai, Etawah. 206130, U.P., India.
Alok
A
Kumar
Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan.
Akio
A
Tsuboi
Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan.
Yu
Y
Kakimoto
Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan.
Fumiko
F
Satoh
forensic pathology; forensic science; gas burner; gunshot injury; homemade firearms; suicide