ISSN: 0022-1198
Page Count: 3

A Novel Application of Time Since the Latest Discharge of a Shotgun in a Suspect Murder
Andersson, C
The National Laboratory of Forensic Sciences, SKL,

Andrasko, J
The National Laboratory of Forensic Sciences, SKL,

(Received 11 March 1998; accepted 3 June 1998)

Abstract

The recently developed method for the determination of time since the latest discharge of a shotgun was applied to an unusual murder case. A man was killed by two shots from a shotgun, but the suspect maintained that he killed the man unintentionally and in self-defense, by shooting one shot from each of the barrels of a double-barreled shotgun at the same time. The laboratory investigation revealed that only one of the barrels was fired the last time the gun had been used. As the victim was hit by two shots, the conclusion was that both shots were fired from the same barrel, which means that the suspect had to reload his weapon between firings. The suspect was consequently charged with murder.

Keywords:
forensic science, time since discharge, solid phase microextraction, firearms, shotgun, GC-TEA, gas chromatography

Paper ID: JFS14438J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS14438J
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