Twin brothers committed suicide together with a gunshot wound to the head from self-constructed shooting devices, they were found sitting together on a sofa. The firearms were manufactured by the victims who used machined metal tubes with 12-gauge shotgun ammunition. The mechanism of action relied upon direct impact on the firing pin rod; with a hammer.
Fig.1 Twin brothers dead on a sofa with self-inflicted gunshot wounds to their heads. One brother is holding a homemade firearm.
Twin 1
A 27-year-old man was found dead on a sofa at his residence. He had a history of recent employment difficulties and depression. A suicide note was present. The victim had shot himself through the mouth causing destruction of the hard and soft palates and laceration of the lips. There was also extensive comminuted and compound fracturing of the facial skeleton, the base of the skull, and the calvarium. At autopsy, the body was quite decomposed with traumatic disruption of the brain, which contained numerous 1 to 2 mm shotgun pellets. Blood spatter was present on the right hand and a homemade firearm was present between his legs with a 12-gauge shotgun cartridge in situ. A metal hammer was also present next to the gun.
Fig.2 The self-constructed shooting devices.
Twin 1
A 27-year-old man was found dead on a sofa at his residence. He had a history of recent employment difficulties and depression. A suicide note was present. The victim had shot himself through the mouth causing destruction of the hard and soft palates and laceration of the lips. There was also extensive comminuted and compound fracturing of the facial skeleton, the base of the skull, and the calvarium. At autopsy, the body was quite decomposed with traumatic disruption of the brain, which contained numerous 1 to 2 mm shotgun pellets. Blood spatter was present on the right hand and a homemade firearm was present between his legs with a 12-gauge shotgun cartridge in situ. A metal hammer was also present next to the gun.
Fig.3 Hammers used to fire the shooting devices with a shotgun cartridge.
Fig.4 The end of the self-constructed shooting device showing the firing pin.
Homemade guns are less often used in Western countries where individuals, particularly criminals, have ready access to carefully-machined, commercially-made, precision weapons. Even in situations of ready availability of standard weapons, such as the conflict in the Balkans, homemade guns are still being produced. Certain problems exist with homemade firearms as they vary greatly in quality and thus cannot be relied upon for accuracy. In addition, the use of backyard equipment and materials such as low-grade steel for their construction means that the weapons may be dangerous to use as they may jam or explode, resulting in wounds or injuries from backfiring and shrapnel.
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