Confusing exit gunshot wound--"two for the price of one"

During the post-mortem examination of a 36-year-old shooting victim, two entrance gunshot wounds in the back and only one corresponding exit wound in the chest were detected. The likelihood of a retained fragmented or whole bullet, or an embolic phenomenon was eliminated by full body x-ray examination. The only remaining plausible explanation was that the two bullet tracts had converged within the thorax, eventually exiting through a common exit wound. Dissection of the projectiles' path confirmed this unusual phenomenon. Autopsy techniques for gunshot wound cases are discussed.