• Céline Durfort, Julien Cappy, and Lorin de la Grandmaison Geoffroy G.
• From the Department of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Raymond Poincaré Hospital, Garches, France.
• Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2020 Jun 1; 41 (2): 124-127.

AbstractWe report 2 unusual autopsy cases with head handgun wounds using defective firearms in a suicidal context. In the first case, a 78-year-old man was found hanged from a tree, with a Lefaucheux revolver lying on the tree. In the right temporal region, there was an entrance wound with a bullet still in place, responsible for a mild cerebral contusion, without bone defect. The main cause of death was hanging. In the second case, a 60-year-old man died at home after shooting himself in the head several times with a 22-long rifle revolver. The autopsy showed 13 entrance wounds on the scalp. Most of the bullets remained along the skull vault. In each of 2 cases, the manner of death, the feasibility of suicidal gesture, and the consequences of a brain injury on the time to the occurrence of incapacity were questioned. These unusual autopsy cases underline how important it is to take into account the defective nature of firearms.

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