Development of an Analytical Approach to Investigate the Mythology of the Falling Bullet

Bullets falling from the sky, often due to celebratory gunfire, injure people during holidays and other celebrations. Objectively assessing whether a falling bullet and not a close-distance gunshot caused an injury can be complicated by inconsistent witness statements and misunderstandings about the behavior of these bullets. In the chaotic aftermath of a shooting, critical information needed by investigators and medical personnel that could be used to differentiate between these events might be lost, and typical shooting reconstruction techniques relying on bullet impact evidence might not work because these shootings often occur outside. This research investigates whether nitrite residues are deposited on the bullet surface because of the gun firing and whether the loss of those nitrite residues can be correlated to flight time to distinguish celebratory gunfire (or a falling bullet) from short-distance bullets. To test the hypothesis that nitrite residues levels decrease as flight time increases, methods to safely capture celebratory gunfire or long flight time bullets were developed. Nitrite amounts present on short-distance and unfired bullets were determined instrumentally; however, celebratory bullets could not be obtained for comparison. The results suggest that there is an increase in nitrite residues attributable to the firing of the gun and not due to the residues already present on the bullet because of the manufacturing process. These residues remained on fired bullets even after becoming embedded in a target. While many variables might complicate or limit the interpretative value of this information, it might be possible to assess the bullet to determine flight time without input from any of the subjective sources of information often found in these events.