Skip to main content
Elsevier
View Cart

Shooting Incident Reconstruction

Shooting Incident Reconstruction is based on the authors' numerous years of conducting courses and seminars on the subject of shooting incident reconstruction. It seeks to thorou… Read more

World Book Day celebration

Where learning shapes lives

Up to 25% off trusted resources that support research, study, and discovery.

Explore resources

Description

Shooting Incident Reconstruction is based on the authors' numerous years of conducting courses and seminars on the subject of shooting incident reconstruction. It seeks to thoroughly address matters from simple to complex in order to provide the reader with an explanation of the factors surrounding ballistics, trajectory, and shooting scenes.

The ultimate objectives of this unique book are to assist investigators, crime scene analysts, pathologists, ballistics experts, and lawyers to understand the terminology, science, and factors involved in reconstructing shooting incident events to solve forensic cases.

The book covers a full range of related topics, including the range from which a firearm was discharged; the sequence of shots in a multiple discharge shooting incident; the position of a firearm at the moment of discharge; the position of a victim at the moment of impact; the probable flight path of a projectile; the manner by which a firearm was discharged, and much more. It contains over 100 diagrams and photographs, many in full-color, that support and illustrate key concepts.

Key features

- Written by one of the most well-respected shooting scene and ballistics experts in the world- Contains over 100 diagrams and photographs, many in full-color, that support and illustrate key concepts- Case studies illustrate real-world application of technical concepts

Readership

The audience would include practicing forensic scientists (firearm and toolmark examiners), ballistics experts, crime scene personnel, police departments, forensic consultants, attorneys and judges, Medical Examiners (coroners), and forensic pathologists.

Table of contents

1. INTRODUCTION 2. THE RECONSTRUCTIVE ASPECTS of CLASS CHARACTERISTICS and a LIMITED UNIVERSE 3. IS IT A BULLET HOLE? 4. SOME USEFUL REAGENTS and THEIR APPLICATION 5. GUNSHOT RESIDUES and PROXIMITY TESTS 6. PROJECTILE PENETRATION and PERFORATION 7. PROJECTILE RICOCHET 8. THE PRINCIPLES of “TRAJECTORY” RECONSTRUCTION 9. THE SHOOTING OF MOTOR VEHICLES 10. TRAJECTORIES in HUMAN BODIES 11. TRACE EVIDENCE CONSIDERATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH FIREARMS EVIDENCE: EVIDENTIARY and RECONSTRUCTIVE SPECTS 12. CARTRIDGE CASE EJECTION and EJECTION PATTERNS 13. TRUE BALLISTICS: LONG DISTANCE SHOOTINGS and FALLING BULLETS 14. SHOTGUN SHOOTINGS and EVIDENCE 15. ULTIMATE OBJECTIVES, REPORTS and COURT PRESENTATION APPENDIX

Review quotes

“Shooting Incident Reconstruction is an informative and comprehensive guide to the analysis of firearms at crime scenes ranging from accidental injuries to carefully planned murders ...This book covers it all. No longer will investigators be forced to rely on eyewitness accounts alone; instead, they will be able to use the reconstructive aspects of firearms evidence to determine what did and did not happen at a crime scene.” –-Law Enforcement TechnologyIn creating this book, author Lucien C. Haag drew from years of experience in the field, first as a criminalist and later as the former technical director of Phoenix, Ariz., Police Department's forensic laboratory.

"Shooting Incident Reconstruction provides an explanation of the factors surrounding ballistics, trajectory, and shooting scenes for both the layman and the professional. Key concepts are supported and illustrated by more than 100 diagrams and photographs, many of which are in color. Gun enthusiasts will find much of this book of interest..."—American Rifleman

Product details

About the author

LH

Lucien C. Haag

Lucien C. “Luke” Haag is a former Criminalist and Technical Director of the Phoenix Crime Laboratory, with over 53 years of experience in the field of criminalistics and forensic firearms examination. He is the author of the 1st edition of the book, Shooting Incident Reconstruction, 2005 and co-author of the 2nd edition 2011. Presently he is an independent forensic consultant with his own company, Forensic Science Services, Inc., that provides criminalistics services to prosecutors, public defenders, private attorneys, law enforcement agencies, insurance companies, educational institutions and private individuals. Luke Haag has a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley with subsequent forensic training at California State University at Long Beach, Indiana University, Arizona State University, the FBI Laboratory, the FBI Forensic Training Facility, and course work in Forensic Microscopy from the McCrone Institute. In addition to Distinguished Membership status in the AFTE and the California Association of Criminalists, he is a member of the SWAFS, the AAFS, an Associate Member of ENFSI and past board member of the International Wound Ballistics Association. He has authored and presented over 200 scientific papers, most of which have dealt with various exterior and terminal ballistic properties, effects and behavior of projectiles. His primary area of special interest is the reconstruction of shooting scenes and incidents.
Affiliations and expertise
Criminalist, Forensic Science Services, Inc., Carefree, AZ, USA