Ballistics and Blood

Spatter
Luis Martinez, Oscar Alexandri, Rafael
Rosas, Andres Valenzuela, Christian San
Agustin
How to Recreate the Circumstances of a Crime
scene using ballistics
Tissue Damage
Angle of shooter and victim
Distance between shooter
and victim
How to recreate the circumstances of the
gunshot using ballistics
-Tissue damage
When someone is shot, there are two types of tissue damages or wounds,
penetrating and perforating.
Penetrating wounds have an entrance opening, but does not leave the body.
These wounds have little rings on them called abrasion rings and can be
two colors (reddish-brown).
On the other hand, perforating wounds happen when a bullet is shot into
someone and it goes directly through them, leaving them with an entrance
and an exit wound
Reference: Mahoney, 2014
Angle of Shooter and Victim
Angled Contact wound: barrel is held at an acute angle
towards skin
Incomplete-contact wound: barrel is held at skin, but in
a place where skin is not completely flat
Gases escape the gap, leaving blackened and seared
sections of skin
Reference: Mahoney, 2014
Distance between shooter/victim
Gunshot wound classifications: contact, near-contact, intermediate, and distant
wounds.
A contact wound results when the muzzle is held against the body at the time of
discharge,
In hard-contact wound, the muzzle is held tightly against the skin. There is
gunpowder and soot around the wound,
In loose-contact wounds, the muzzle is held lightly against the skin, and the
soot that is carried by the gas is deposited in a zone around the entrance, the
muzzle is not in contact with the skin, but is very close.
Reference: Mahoney, 2014
How to match a bullet to a gun?
Forensics investigate bullet to caliber for firearm in
question.
Bullet is studied for coinciding rifle mark patterns.
If both match, forensic match unique characteristics.
Pattern of striations and scratches.
Each gun barrel is different.
Picture the bullet moving down the barrel of a gun.
(Murnaghan, 2014)
How to recreate a crime scene
using blood spatter
The angle of the victim relative to the blood spatter:
Once the weapon is determined experts can tell where the victim was at the
time of death. For example, when a gun was used you can tell since the
direction from where the bullet enters lets out a mist of blood while the back
wound will leave scattered droplets of blood. From that experts can tell where
the victim was standing and at what time.
How to recreate a crime scene
using blood spatter
Determining the weapon based on blood drops:
The kind of weapon used in the assault will drastically change the blood
spatter. For example, a gunshot will spray mist forward and small drops
backwards. A blunt force object blood spatter will spray small drops of blood to
objects relative to the arc in which the object is swung. There are ways to
identify any kind of weapon attack.
How to recreate a crime scene
using blood spatter
Size/shape of blood droplets and what that tells the investigators about the
weapon/force.
When a knife is swung a straight line of blood is made. A blunt force attack will
create varied sizes of splatters depending on the force and times victim is
struck. A gun shot will create both a mist and small spatters. Blood stains are
categorized then from that experts can tell both the weapon used and how
many times the victim was struck.
Angle of shooter/victim
In an angled-contact wound, the barrel is held at an acute angle to the skin, and
gas and soot radiate outwards from where the gun does not touch the skin. In
an incomplete-contact wound, the barrel is held against the skin, but in a place
where the skin is not completely flat. In this case, hot sooty gases escape the
gap, leaving a long blackened and seared section of the skin, with scattered
grains of powder.
References
"A Simplified Guide To Bloodstain Pattern Analysis." Crime Scene Investigator. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2014. <http:
//www.crime-scene-investigator.net/SimplifiedGuideBloodstainP
Brandtner, H., Kunz, S. N., Meyer H. (2014, May). Unusual blood spatter patterns on the firearm and hand: A
backspatter analysis to reconstruct the position and orientation of a firearm. [Abstract]. Forensic Science
International 228 (1-3), e54-e57
"Firearms and Ballistics." Firearms and Ballistics. APSU, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. <http://www.drtomoconnor.
com/3210/3210lect05a.htm>
Guerra, I. "The Use of Trigonometry in Blood Spatter" . A with Honors Projects. Paper 106. http://spark.parkland.
edu/ah/106. Spring 2014.
"Gunshot Wounds | Gunshot Wounds Photographs." Mahoney. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2014. <http://www.
relentlessdefense.com/forensics/gunshot-wounds/>.
Murnaghan, Ian. "How Can a Bullet be Identified from a Particular Gun?." How Can a Bullet be Identified from a
Particular Gun?. ExploreForensics, 6 Aug. 2014. Web. 9 Sept. 2014. <http://www.exploreforensics.co.uk/how-
can-bullet-be-idenitied-from-particular-gun.html>.
Steele, Lisa. "BALLISTICS." americanbar. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2014. <http://apps.americanbar.
org/abastore/products/books/abstracts/5450051chap1_abs.pdf>.