Suicide With a Homemade Shotgun

Virginia, US. A 57-year-old white man with a history of depression and prior suicidal ideation was found lifeless by his landlord in his residence. Police had responded to the residence 19 days earlier following notification that he had called a suicide hotline and expressed his intent to kill himself. At that time, a 12-gauge shotgun was confiscated. The shotgun had been rigged to facilitate pulling the trigger with a rope. After telling authorities of his desire to end his life, he was taken into custody and subsequently admitted to Western State Hospital, a psychiatric facility.

Fig.1 Scene photograph with hammer used to strike the primer.

The decedent was found dead when his landlord went to the residence to inquire about the payment for 2 months of back rent. Upon the landlord’s arrival, he observed the decedent lying lifeless on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood and brain matter. Police responded to the residence and found a homemade shotgun device on the kitchen sink and a hammer on the floor in front of the sink. Various household components had been used in the construction of the shotgun.

Fig.2 Scene photograph of the homemade shotgun.

An envelope addressed to the local Sheriff expressing his posthumous requests and various legal documents were laid out in another room. Health problems and financial issues were specifically cited as issues driving his ultimate decision. Investigation of the scene did not reveal any indication of forced entry or foul play that would suggest anything other than intentional self-harm.

Fig.3 Autopsy photography of the destructive nature of the shotgun blast.

Responding police found the decedent fully clothed and lying prone on his kitchen floor. Severe trauma to his head was observed and a pool of blood and brain matter surrounded him. A homemade shotgun was on a piece of plywood on the kitchen sink, facing the greater kitchen area. The components of the shotgun included a barrel fashioned from a dumbbell bar, 2 halves of a standard one-inch pipe clamp, 2 C-clamps, a stopper whittled out of a dowel rod, and a nail set acting as a firing pin. The apparatus was secured in a vice weighted down on the sink with 30 pounds of dumbbell weights and a heavy toolbox filled with tools. A small hammer, apparently used to strike the nail set that was in contact with the primer of the shotshell, was found on the kitchen floor in front of the sink. The shotshell was a Federal Premium brand 3-inch magnum number 4 shot with copper platted pellets.

Fig.4 Posterior view of the homemade shotgun.

In the living room, police found an envelope addressed to the Sheriff of the investigating agency describing the decedent’s lack of a will, his 30-year estrangement from family, funeral requests, and an explanation of motivation— health problems, and financial issues. Legal documents including a voting card, social security card, passport, marriage license, his birth certificate and his parents’ birth certificates, military paperwork, and an application for burial benefits were also laid out.

Fig.5 Close-up view of breech-end with nail set held against the primer of the shotshell by a stopper.

Fig.6 Components used to construct the shotgun including: dumbbell bar, c-clamps, pipe clamp, stopper, nail set, vice, and 12 gauge shotshell.

Postmortem examination revealed a well-developed, well-nourished, white male with a contact perforating shotgun blast to the right side of the head. Soot was present on the skin and shotgun filler was found within and around the wound track. The brain had been traumatically eviscerated from the cranial vault. The shotgun blast caused destructive fractures of the skull and destructive lacerations of the brain. Multiple copper-coated number 4 shot pellets were recovered from the brain and skull. The shotshell wad was recovered from the frontal lobe of the brain. Also found at postmortem examination was mild focal atherosclerotic stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Postmortem toxicology was negative for alcohol.