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A man was found dressed in a formal suit, having taken his own life with a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. The force of the close-range blast resulted in catastrophic destruction, effectively obliterating the cranial vault and leaving little recognizable facial structure. Shotgun suicides to the head often cause extensive tissue loss, brain evisceration, and skull fragmentation due to the high-velocity spread of pellets or slug impact. Close-range wounds typically exhibit soot deposition and powder stippling on remaining tissue. The explosive pressure creates a devastating exit wound, often larger than the entrance, making identification difficult without forensic means.

Fig.1 Head obliterated in a shotgun suicide.

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