[Injuries and fatalities caused by gas-/warning weapons]

Detailed report of 5 cases of violation with gas or warning firearms, 3 of them lethal. In one case a modified weapon (elongated barrel) and steel bullets were used, resulting in shot of the head with retained missile and lethal bleeding. In the other cases, regular weapons (8 or 9 mm cartridges) were used for contact shots; violation occurred only by the effect of powder gases. One of these cases was a suizide (lethal temporal gunshot), in the other cases shots by another person: a) shot against the arm with large soft-tissue damage (survived); b) and c) shot against the neck with exceeding rupture of the soft tissues, minimal damage of the neck arteries and in one cases bilateral tears of the hypopharynx. In this case a delayed death after primarily well operated injury occurred after 12 days by bleeding into the airways from ruptured external carotid artery.