This article reports on an experiment concerning the ejection patterns of shell casings.
The forensic research literature reveals some tension concerning the position of casings related to shooting incidents; some researchers tout the importance of the location of casings while others claim that casings should not be relied on for forensic information. The article begins with a description of a court case in which the location of shell casings at the scene of a police-involved shooting was used to refute an officer’s interpretation of the events. Next, the experiment is described in which officers stood behind 4-foot-wide walkways while firing at targets 25 yards away at the Lincoln Police Department’s firing range. The distance, direction, and angle of the shell casings from the shooter’s firing position were measured. While the shell casing ejection patterns of comparable firearms were similar, the ejection patterns were different among the five types of firearms used in the experiment. The findings indicate that many variables can affect shell casing ejection patterns and therefore the crime scene investigation should be completed with care to recover all possible evidence. Figures, table, references, appendix