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Sniper cases are purposeful,
premeditated acts of violence where the
victims are generally selected and
targeted but are seldom personally known
to the shooter. The victims are simply
targets of opportunity and this is one
of the complicating factors in
investigating and solving these crimes.
The shot or shots are often fired from a
selected area of concealment employing
long guns and involve distances of fifty
to several hundred yards. The various
motives and the question of “why” for
these shootings are for social
scientists to answer. The ‘who’ and
‘with what’ and “from where” are the
tasks of the forensic scientist and
involve the characterization of the
responsible firearm and ammunition, the
location of the shooter’s position and
the possible linking of suspected
“sniper” cases.
A second category is that of long
distance shootings. These are usually
the result of the careless discharge of
a firearm (inadequate backstop, shooting
over a hill or berm at a shooting
range). Angles of departure in these
cases are seldom in excess of +5 to +10
degrees but result in projectile flights
of hundreds to as much as several
thousand yards. The third category is
that of so-called “falling bullets” from
the reckless discharge of firearms at
very high departure angles such as +30
degrees to vertical firings. These
events are often associated with the
celebratory discharge of firearms on
holidays such as New Year’s Eve and the
4th of July in the United States.
This 2-day workshop will address the
special problems in processing and
reconstructing these shooting scenes to
include direction and range of fire
estimates, trajectory reconstruction as
well as ammunition evaluation and
firearm assessment. Each participant
will receive a syllabus and a current
copy of Sierra Bullets Infinity 5
exterior ballistics program
[Participants already in possession of
this program should bring it with them].
This computer program will be
demonstrated and used extensively during
this workshop. Attendees are strongly
encouraged to bring a laptop or notebook
computer so they can gain firsthand
experience with this ballistics program.
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www.afte.org
> Training Seminar
> 2007 Sunday
