Problems of Forensic Sciences 2001 Vol. 45 (XLV) 109-121
RECONSTRUCTION OF A CRIME INVOLVING THE USE OF A FIREARM BASED ON THE STUDY OF CASE FILES AND GUNSHOT RESIDUE EXAMINATION
Zuzanna BROŻEK-MUCHA, Jan JAROSZ
Institute of Forensic Research, Cracow
Streszczenie
A case of reconstructing the wounding of a policeman by his partner, with a firearm, while apprehending a man that had broken into a car, is presented. The wounded policeman died within two weeks after the accident. The question directed to the experts at the Institute of Forensic Research in Cracow was to establish the respective physical positions of the two officers at the moment the shot or shots were actually fired, since the version of events related by the shooting policeman differed from those of the victim and the witness. The subject of the investigation were the case files, as well as the clothing of the victim. The most important pieces of information that contributed significantly to the solution of the problem were the autopsy report, describing the geometry of the wounds in the body of the victim, and determination of the presence of unique primer discharge residues, in the absence of organic gunshot residues (thus excluding the possibility of a contact shot), from physical and chemical examinations of the victim’s clothing. The conclusions of the investigation performed turned out to be contrary to the testimony of the suspect.
Słowa kluczowe
Case files study; Reconstruction of the crime; Gunshot residues (GSR)/Cartridge discharge residues (CDR); SEM-EDX; Estimation of the shooting distance.