Committing Suicide With Handgun Wounds in the Head Using a Defective Firearm: About 2 Unusual Autopsy Cases

We report 2 unusual autopsy cases with head handgun wounds using defective firearms in a suicidal context. In the first case, a 78-year-old man was found hanged from a tree, with a Lefaucheux revolver lying on the tree. In the right temporal region, there was an entrance wound with a bullet still in place, responsible for a mild cerebral contusion, without bone defect. The main cause of death was hanging. In the second case, a 60-year-old man died at home after shooting himself in the head several times with a 22-long rifle revolver. The autopsy showed 13 entrance wounds on the scalp. Most of the bullets remained along the skull vault. In each of 2 cases, the manner of death, the feasibility of suicidal gesture, and the consequences of a brain injury on the time to the occurrence of incapacity were questioned. These unusual autopsy cases underline how important it is to take into account the defective nature of firearms.