Investigation of deaths due to firearm injuries between 2009-2014 in Diyarbakir

Aim: Firearm-related deaths increase dramatically in both our country and the other countries. This type of death examinations and autopsies which is very significant procedure to find and define evidences have a very important role in forensic medicine due to significant function in criminal investigations. The aim of this study is to evaluate firearm related death examinations and autopsies that occur within the Diyarbakır and other adjacent places 01.01.2009-31.12.2014. Material and Methods: In this study, the reports of 5440 death examinations and forensic autopsy findings are retrospectively analyzed. There were 1102 (20.25%) firearm-related death included in this study. Age, gender, origin, season, month, year, type of weapon, number of bullets in the body, shooting range, the structure of bullet projectile, additional trauma findings, crime scene investigations, bullet entry side and toxicological results of samples were evaluated. Results: 879 (79.8%) were male while 223 (20.2%) of total cases were female. The mean age was 8.82+13.56 (min: 0, max: 82). Homicide was the highest percentage with 668 (60.6%) cases than suicides [327 cases (29.6%)]. Accidents with 33 (3%) cases and other 74 (6.8%) not-originated case were observed. It is detected that most of the cases took place in summer time. The examination showed that there was a single bullet wound in 735 (66%) cases while there were five or more wounds in 149 (13%) cases. Bullet entry hole was at head-neck region in 419 (38%) cases. Conclusion: In this study, the level of firearm-related deaths is found relatively higher than the other studies. The occurrence of high number of such cases proved that, strict legislation of firearm control regulation and raising public awareness about the issue are required. Key Words: Firearm injury, death, autopsy, forensic medicine, firearm