Forensic medical characteristics of firearm exit wounds in cases with armour protection

Abstract

Background: The very limited literature about the characteristic morphology of the firearm ammunition wounds in the body armored victims led authors to conduct an experimental study to understand this issue of great forensic and medico-legal importance.

Purpose: An autopsy of a male sniper was fraught with a challenge to differentiate between a firearm ammunition entry and exit wound. He was wearing body armour when shot at during a hostage rescue operation. The study was conducted to standardize the findings and answer the queries in such cases of forearms with inherent legal implications.

Methodology: The modifying effect of the clothing and the armour on the firearm injuries in humans was studied by test firings on animal (pig) cadaver tissues, which has closest simulation to the human body tissues. These firings were preceded by X-ray fluorescence, and followed by stereoscopic and spectroscopic examinations. All the events were recorded by the high-resolution video camera shoots.

Results: An extensive cavitation in the form of a cone shaped crater, and a tissue defect with precipitated edges and patching of the epidermal layers indicated a firearm entry and exit wound, respectively, in victims wearing body armour at the time of the firearm injury.

Keywords: Body armour; Deformed projectile; Firearm injuries; Simulation studies; Spectroscopy; Wound ballistics.