Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Police were summoned to a home of a woman who reported that there had been a shooting. The victim, a 26-year-old white male, was a friend of the woman. He had been watching the woman’s children while she went out drinking with a couple of other males. When the police arrived, they observed the victim sitting on the living room couch, with a gun cradled in his right hand. The victim’s right thumb was inside the trigger guard. He had suffered a bullet wound to the left side of his nose and the exit wound was in the upper part of the back of the head. The magazine for the gun had been removed and the ejected shell casing was approximately 6 feet away from where the victim sat. An examination of the wound structure indicated no stippling or soot on the wound; there was no evidence of blowback in the barrel of the gun.
Fig.1 Close-up of victim’s face showing entrance wound.
The police were informed by the two males that the deceased had been “playing” with the gun, which belonged to one of the reporting males, and had accidentally shot himself in the face. A uniform lieutenant in charge of the scene decided that there was not any need for a detective response. His decision was based on an administrative policy that discouraged overtime. Rather than authorize overtime response for investigators, he had the case classified as an accidental shooting.
The next day, the homicide detectives reviewed the case and examined the crime scene photographs. Their opinion was that the circumstances as described by the reporting officer and witnesses were not consistent with the elements of the crime scene. They initiated an investigation and tested the suspected weapon, which revealed that the gun must have been fired at least 42 inches away from the deceased’s face. The discharged rounds did not eject but had to be manually removed from the breech. Removing the magazine required both hands. Gunshot residue (GSR) testing of the deceased’s hands proved negative.
Fig.2 Victim’s original position when police arrived.
The investigators reinterviewed the woman and the reporting witnesses. The males were confronted with the facts of the case as well as their inconsistent statements. It was learned that all of the parties had been drinking. A gun was pulled out by one of the males, who stated that the gun had accidentally discharged hitting the victim in the face. They had panicked and decided to make it appear that the deceased had shot himself. After they “staged” the scene, they called the police and the ambulance. Both subjects were charged with murder. They were indicted for involuntary manslaughter. The male who had done the shooting pled guilty to manslaughter and weapon possession.
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