A Case Report of Suicide with a Homemade Handgun (Plastic Model Gun)

Korean J Legal Med 2012;36:174-177. Korean

Department of Logistics Management of Air Force, Daegu, Korea

Department of Criminal Investigation, Military Police Battalion, Division of 11Th Combat Air Forces, Daegu, Korea

Department of Forensic Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea, sanghan1@knu.ac.kr

Unlike the United States, cases of firearm suicides in Korea are rare and are usually limited to military soldiers and policemen. In addition, there is no case report of a suicide by a homemade handgun in Korea. The present victim was a 24-year-old soldier with a fascination for firearms. He had a history of depression and social phobia during his military service. He constructed a homemade handgun from a plastic model gun, also known as a BB gun. During the vacations, he committed suicide with the homemade gun, which caused a penetrating gunshot wound to his chest. The structure and ammunition of the homemade handgun is demonstrated in this report. We have also discussed a few details of the forensic investigation and evaluation of the homemade handgun fatality.

Key words : suicide, homemade, handgun, military

Case report