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Medicine

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Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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Entrance and exit firearm wounds can be distinguished by several features, including: Shape: Entrance wounds are typically round or oval, while exit wounds are often irregular in shape, with stellate tears or a "comet-tail" abrasion collar. Size: Exit wounds are often larger than entrance wounds due to the tumbling and fragmentation of the bullet as it travels through the body. Abrasion ring: a reddish-brown abrasion around the skin surrounding the entrance wound. It is caused by the bullet dragging against the skin as it enters the body. Abrasion rings are typically not present around exit wounds. Soot deposition: a blackening of the skin around the entrance wound caused by gunpowder gases. Soot deposition is typically not present around exit wounds. Gunshot Residue (GSR): a microscopic residue of gunpowder particles that can be deposited on the skin and clothing of a person who has been shot or who has been in close proximity to a firearm. GSR is typically present around the entrance wound, but it is not typically present around the exit wound. In some cases, it can be difficult to distinguish between entrance and exit wounds, primarily if the victim has been shot multiple times, if the wounds are located in a difficult-to-access area of the body, or if the wounds have been obscured by clothing or debris. In such cases, forensic pathologists may use a variety of techniques, such as ballistic reconstruction and microscopic examination of the wounds, to determine the direction of travel of the bullet(s) and to identify the entrance and exit wounds. FEATURE ENTRANCE WOUND EXIT WOUND Shape Round or oval Irregular, stellate tears, or "comet-tail" abrasion collar Size Smaller Often larger Abrasion Ring Present Typically not present Soot Deposition Present Typically not present Gunshot Residue (GSR) Present Typically not present (Shrestha et. al, 2020) It is important to note that these are general guidelines and that there may be exceptions. For example, exit wounds may be small and regular in shape in cases of contact wounds or when the bullet has exited the body through a bony structure. Additionally, soot deposition and GSR may be present around exit wounds in cases of close-range shootings. Forensic pathologists use their expertise and experience to evaluate the evidence in a given case to determine the entrance and exit wounds. Probably one of the most notable cases in which the identification of whether the wounds were entry or exit is that of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

President Kennedy was famously assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, TX. The Warren Commission was assembled to investigate the shooting. It issued a report in 1964 finding that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman, firing a total of three shots in the incident. However, evidence suggests the potential of a fourth shot from another location, indicating a second gunman and a wider conspiracy to kill the president (globenewswire.com). The mystery that surrounds the assassination of JFK has sparked many conspiracy theories, yet the same question still pops up on the directionality of the shots. The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (Warren Commission) concluded that President Kennedy was struck by two bullets that were fired from above and behind him. A determination of the number and location of the President's wounds was critical to resolving the question of whether there was more than one assassin. The skepticism has been reinforced by a film taken of the Presidential motorcade at the moment of the assassination by an amateur movie photographer, Abraham Zapruder. In the Zapruder film, the President's head is thrown backward as the front right side of the skull appears to explode, suggesting to critics of the Warren Commission's findings that the President was struck by a bullet that entered the front of the head. Some experts concluded that nerve damage from a bullet entering the President's head could have caused his back muscles to tighten, which, in turn, could have caused his head to move toward the rear (Nalli, 2018). The "single bullet theory" concluded that one of the three shots fired from the window by Oswald struck both President Kennedy and Governor Connally. The report stated that the bullet hit Kennedy in the back, exited his neck, entered Governor Connally in the right armpit, exited his chest, went through his right wrist and embedded in his left thigh. The panel determined that the nature of the wounds of President Kennedy and Governor Connally was consistent with the possibility that one bullet entered the upper right back of President Kennedy and, after emerging from the front of the neck, caused all of the Governor's wounds (National Archives, 2016). The Dallas doctors described Kennedy’s throat wound as a “puncture” wound, a wound that had the appearance of an entrance wound. As already discussed, the treating Dallas doctors were convinced early on that Kennedy’s throat wound had been an entrance wound. Usually, when bullets exit a body, they leave skin wounds that are irregular, stellate, with slit-like margins that are generally free of abrasions. Yet, before Malcolm Perry, MD had obliterated it with the tracheotomy, Kennedy’s was reportedly small, round, and regular, an untypical appearance for a wound of exit (Aguilar & Cunningham, 2003). “Our team tested bullet trajectories using the two frames from the Zapruder film where the first shots occurred and the known entry and exit points on Kennedy and Connally. The shooting position, bullet exit point on President Kennedy, and entry point on Governor Connally should all be reasonably in line. When drawing this line from the sixth-floor perch of the Texas Book Depository to the positions of the two men and their entry/exit points, we found a significant angle difference. This case is ongoing, but evidence strongly suggests there is more to the story in this historic event. Modern science refutes the Warren Commission’s findings on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.” -Stanley Stoll, CEO and Principal Engineer of Knott Laboratory

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