Dr. Thomas Coyne

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Well, unfortunately, she died of a gunshot wound to the head, and so the second that bullet would have impacted her skull, she would have been knocked unconscious, and she would have died almost immediately thereafter.

Gunshot wounds to the head are devastating injuries.

Most of these wounds are from nine millimeter handguns.

The velocity at which the bullet exits and the force it carries produces devastating injuries to the brain.

You and I are sitting here awake.

We're not even thinking about having to breathe in and breathe out those structures in our brain.

often are injured immediately after being shot in the head.

And so a person stops breathing, loses consciousness, and dies soon thereafter.

Devastating wound.

It's a little bigger and it packs much greater force, greater force than a .22 caliber handgun.

And so a wound to the head from a .40 caliber handgun is devastating.

In other words, the skull itself, when the bullet impacts the skull, would fracture as the bullet travels through the brain.

Not only is a bullet destructive directly to the brain, but the

force of the bullet creates a pressure wave around the bullet, which devastates brain structures that are even further away from the bullet itself.

And so a person often has severe skull fractures and devastating brain injuries throughout the entirety of the bullet, not just where the bullet travels.

So even a bullet that may graze the head or graze the brain can still be fatal just because of the force that bullet brings with it.

Sure, .22 calibers, so I've had people who've attempted to commit suicide by placing a .22 caliber handgun against the head.

And depending upon where that gun is placed, the skull itself may be thick enough to slow down the .22 caliber bullet where it either stops in the skull or isn't as devastating, let's say, as a .40 caliber or 9mm bullet