Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 24 No 5 (2020): 636 - 648

 

 

 

 

LINKING OF SHOOTER AND SHOOTING: DETECTION OF GUNSHOT RESIDUE ON SHOOTER’S HANDS USING MICROSCOPY AND SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE-ENERGY DISPERSIVE X-RAY METHODS

 

(Perkaitan Antara Penembak dan Penembakan: Pengesanan Sisa Tembakan pada Tangan Penembak Menggunakan Kaedah Mikroskop dan Kaedah Mikroskop Pengimbas Elektron-Sebaran Sinaran-X Bertenaga)

 

Farah Ad-din Nordin1, 2, Ahmad Fahmi Lim Abdullah1, Kah Haw Chang1*

 

1Forensic Science Programme, School of Health Sciences,

Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia

2Criminalistic Section, Forensic Division,

Department of Chemistry, Jalan Sultan, 46661 Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author:  changkh@usm.my

 

 

Received: 10 March 2020; Accepted: 5 August 2020; Published: 12 October 2020

 

 

Abstract

One important link in the chain of proof during investigation of shooting cases is the evidence to prove a person had fired a firearm, or somehow was connected with the firing activity. Gunshot residues (GSR), particularly on shooter’s hand, could provide significant aid in such investigation. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the detection of GSR particles recovered from the hands of shooter using two sampling methods, namely stubbing and swabbing, on the basis of the types of firearms and ammunitions, as well as the varying sampling sites. By considering lead, barium and antimony as the criterion to definitely confirm the presence of GSR, the experimental results revealed that greater number of GSR particles were shown in those samples subjected to firing by using revolver with .38 SPL ammunition compared to semi-automatic pistol with 9 mm ammunition (p = 0.034). Based on Kruskal-Wallis test, there was no statistically significant association shown between the sampling sites and number of GSR particles detected (p= 0.545 for semi-automatic pistol; p = 0.218 for revolver). All stub samples demonstrated positive detection of GSR particles, but only one single characteristic GSR particle was detected on swab samples. Further examination on the collection efficiency of respective sampling methods demonstrated with no significant association between the types of firearms and number of GSR particles detected from the respective cartridge cases (p = 0.568). The number of swabbing from spent cartridge case gave almost similar testing result (p = 0.561). This study has successfully detected the presence of GSR particles, which could serve as a supporting evidence to relate a suspect to a shooting case. Although swabbing has limited ability in recovering GSR samples from the hands of shooter, it is useful whenever a stub is not available or to recover GSR particle from a place where could not be reached by a stub to avoid the loss of trace particles.

 

Keywords:  forensic science, firearm, gunshot residue, stub, swab, shooter

 

Abstrak

Satu perkaitan penting dalam rantaian bukti ketika penyiasatan kes penembakan adalah bahan bukti yang dapat membuktikan seseorang individu telah melepaskan suatu tembakan atau dikaitkan dengan aktiviti penembakan tersebut. Sisa tembakan (GSR) yang lazimnya pada tangan penembak boleh memberikan bantuan bererti dalam penyiasatan kes-kes sedemikian. Justeru, kajian ini bertujuan menyiasat pengesanan zarah GSR yang dipulihkan daripada tangan penembak menggunakan dua kaedah pensampelan, iaitu dengan puntung dan kesatan, berdasarkan jenis senjata api dan amunisi serta pelbagai tapak pensampelan. Dengan mengambil kira plumbum, barium dan antimoni sebagai kriteria untuk mengesahkan kehadiran GSR secara jelas, keputusan eksperimen telah menunjukkan bahawa bilangan zarah GSR yang lebih banyak telah ditunjukkan pada sampel-sampel yang ditembak menggunakan revolver bersama dengan amunisi .38 SPL berbanding pistol semi-automatik dengan amunisi 9 mm (p = 0.034). Berdasarkan ujian Kruskal-Wallis, tiada perkaitan statistik bererti yang terbukti antara tapak-tapak pensampelan dan bilangan zarah GSR yang dikesan (p = 0.545 bagi pistol semi-automatik; p= 0.218 bagi revolver). Kesemua sampel puntung menunjukkan pengesanan positif bagi zarah GSR tetapi hanya satu zarah berciri GSR sahaja yang dikesan pada sampel kesatan. Pemeriksaan seterusnya pada keberkesanan pengumpulan bagi kedua-dua kaedah pensampelan tidak menunjukkan perkaitan yang bererti antara jenis senjata api dan bilangan zarah GSR yang dikesan daripada kelongsong peluru masing-masing (p = 0.568). Bilangan kesatan daripada kelongsong peluru tertembak memberikan keputusan yang lebih kurang sama (p = 0.561). Kajian ini telah berjaya mengesan kehadiran zarah-zarah GSR yang boleh berfungsi sebagai bahan bukti sokongan dalam mengaitkan seseorang suspek kepada suatu kes penembakan. Sungguhpun kaedah kesatan mempunyai kekangan dalam memulihkan sampel GSR daripada tangan penembak, kaedah ini adalah berguna apabila suatu puntung tidak tersedia atau untuk memulihkan zarah GSR daripada sesuatu tempat tidak dapat dicapai oleh sesuatu puntung demi mengelakkan kehilangan zarah-zarah surih.

 

Kata kunci:  sains forensik, senjata api, sisa tembakan, puntung, kesatan, penembak

 

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