Case report of a homicide by a shotgun loaded with unusual ammunition

Author: Luchini, D. / Di Paolo, M. / Morabito, G. / Gabbrielli, M.
Publication: Am J Forensic Med Pathol
Topics: Crime Criminology Homicide
Keywords: forensics shotgun
Bibliographic information +

The authors describe a case involving the murder of a 71-year-old man by a neighbor using a shotgun loaded with a cartridge that contained several shots chained together by metallic wires. This kind of ammunition has been used for hunting, but is now banned and can only be handmade. Its use in a homicide leads to several interpretive problems: the impossibility of knowing how many pellets are in the shell, the range of fire, the wound pathways through tissues and organs, and particular aspects of the wound that show features different from those of the usual shotgun wound