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

Lee, Joo Yong; Goo, Jeong Ho; Lee, Sang Han

doi:2012.36.2.174

Korean J Leg Med > Volume 36(2); 2012 > Article

Case Report

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2012;36(2):174-177.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/KoreanJLegMed.2012.36.2.174 Published online November 30, 2012.

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

Joo Yong Lee, Jeong Ho Goo, Sang Han Lee

¹Department of Logistics Management of Air Force, Daegu, Korea.
²Department of Criminal Investigation, Military Police Battalion, Division of 11th Combat Air Forces, Daegu, Korea.
³Department of Forensic Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. sanghan1@knu.ac.kr

Abstract

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