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Chemical and Morphological Study of Gunshot Residue Persisting on the Shooter by Means of Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2011

Zuzanna Brożek-Mucha
Zuzanna Brożek-Mucha*
Affiliation:
Institute of Forensic Research, Westerplatte St. 9, 33-031 Krakow, Poland Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena St. 3, 30-060 Krakow, Poland
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Persistence of gunshot residue (GSR) simultaneously collected from hands, face and hair, and clothing of the shooting person was examined. Samples were collected from five shooters in nine time intervals after a single shoot with a Luger 9 mm pistol, in the range of 0–4 h and examined with scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry. Numbers of particles, frequencies of occurrence of certain compositions of particles, and their sizes in function of the time intervals were inspected. The greatest numbers of particles were observed in samples collected from hands right after shooting, but they decrease quickly with time. In samples collected from the face smaller initial numbers of particles were found, but they lasted at a similar level longer. The estimated half-life times of particles were less than 1 h for samples taken from the hands, over 1 h for clothing and about 2–3 h for the face. In samples collected at longer intervals after shooting, there were particles present of small sizes and irregular shapes. The results demonstrate that including evidence collected from the suspect's face and hair may increase the probability of detection of GSR in cases when the suspect has not been apprehended immediately after the investigated incident.

Keywords

forensic sciencecriminalisticsgunshot residuepersistence of particles on the shooting personelemental analysisSEM-EDX
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 17 , Issue 6 , December 2011 , pp. 972 - 982
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2011

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