Multiple gunshot suicide
Suicide |
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Multiple-gunshot suicide occurs when an individual commits suicide by inflicting multiple gunshots on oneself before becoming incapacitated. It excludes suicides where the firearms are operated by other people, such as suicide by cop.
Causes
Incapacitation from a
Examples
Multiple-gunshot suicides are rare, but possible. In one study of 138 gunshot suicides, five (3.6%) involved two shots to the head, the first of which missed the brain.[1] In 2012, a suicide was reported in which a man shot himself eight times in the head before he died 22 hours later.[3]
One particular case has been documented from
In 1978, poet Frank Stanford put three bullets into his own heart with a pistol. This inspired the Indigo Girls song "Three Hits".[6] Other notable figures that died of multiple-gunshot suicides include Gary Webb and Yuriy Kravchenko, as well as the perpetrators of the Crandon shooting and the 2021 San Jose shooting.
Conspiracy theories
Multiple-gunshot deaths of notable figures are known to fuel conspiracy theories among those who are unaware of the phenomenon. Following the two-gunshot death of Gary Webb, conspiracy theorists levied allegations that Webb was murdered.[7][8][9]
See also
References
- ^ S2CID 2824877. Archived from the originalon 2000-10-02. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
- S2CID 23842921.
- S2CID 206916587.
- S2CID 2188531.(subscription required)
- S2CID 1251750.
- ^ "background: three hits". lifeblood.net. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
- ^ Daunt, Tina (March 16, 2005). "Written In Pain". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 29, 2015.
- ^ Devereaux, Ryan (2014). "How the CIA Watched Over the Destruction of Gary Webb". The Intercept.
- ^ Stanton, Sam (December 15, 2004). "Reporter's suicide confirmed by coroner". The Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original on May 7, 2008.
Further reading
- Juvin P, Brion F, Teissière F, Durigon M (Mar 1999). "Prolonged activity after an ultimately fatal gunshot wound to the heart: case report". Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 20 (1): 10–2. PMID 10208328.
- Kury G, Weiner J, Duval JV (Mar 2000). "Multiple self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head: report of a case and review of the literature". Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 21 (1): 32–5. PMID 10739223.
- M. Zahid Bashir, "Multiple gunshot suicide in a female," Annals of King Edward Medical College (Lahore, Pakistan, October–December 2000).