Complex suicide by two gunshots to the chest and consecutive hanging: circumstances and aspects of reconstruction]

In cases of suicidal gunshots, the capacity to act may be preserved for a certain period of time, so that the suicide may be completed with another method. In the presented case a 74-year-old man was found hanged on the first floor of his house with two gunshot wounds in the chest. Both on the ground and the upper floor traces of suicidal acts were detected. As shots to the precordial region suggest rapid incapacitation, a suicide extending over two floors seemed almost impossible without knowledge of the cause of death and evaluation of the ability to act. The autopsy findings confirmed vital signs of hanging. Moreover, a through-and-through gunshot wound of the chest and abdomen affecting the spleen and a shot lodged in the body without injuring the lung were found. The injury findings thus sufficiently explained the preserved ability to act. The presented case shows characteristics of a complex suicide not yet described so far, but could be clearly classified as suicide in congruity with the pertinent literature.