Browsing by Author "Punyasena, M."

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    An empirical study on the close-range post-ricochet orientation of AK bullets (7.62 mm × 39 mm)
    (Science & Justice, 2022) Nishshanka, B.; Shepherd, C.; Koene, L.; Punyasena, M.
    Most of the injuries and deaths from ricocheting bullets in shooting incidents are usually reported due to misaimed shots that had ricocheted close to the victims. Although the destabilisation of ricocheted bullets during their ricochet flights is a generally known phenomenon, no significant quantitative-based scientific studies have attempted to understand bullets’ post-ricochet orientations at close distances. This empirical study explores close-range post-ricochet orientations of AK bullets (7.62 mm × 39 mm) on a range of domestic surface types typically encountered during bullet ricochet incidents. This study has revealed that ricocheting AK bullets off of various wood types and tile samples produce side-on impacts into closely located targets following a rightwards yaw action. It has also been shown that AK bullets ricocheting off concrete and cement samples at 5-degree incident angles produced nose-forward impacts on paper witness screens, similar to an orthogonal impact of a direct-fired shot. The findings present important new information on the post-ricochet yawing behaviour of AK bullets, which has the potential to aid future shooting reconstructions in which victims are hit by closely ricocheted bullets.
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    Ricochet of AK bullets (7.62 MM X 39 MM) on glazed ceramic tiles: An empirical study in support of shooting incident reconstructions
    (Forensic Science International, 2022) Nishshanka, B.; Shepherd, C.; Punyasena, M.
    Indoor environments provide numerous hard surfaces and nearby objects which facilitate the shots fired to ricochet off and hit victims. Out of many surface types, ceramic tile surfaces are considered to be one of the most commonly available and encountered surface type in indoor shootings. However, no studies had at tempted to understand the ricochet behaviour and surface evidence of ceramic tiles with any bullet type. This study explores the ricochet behaviour of one of the most commonly reported bullet type in recent shooting incidents; AK bullets (7.62 mm × 39 mm/ M43) on two glazed ceramic tile samples used for indoor walls and flooring. The study’s results present the critical angles of glazed ceramic floor and wall tile samples along with a few significant and currently not reported ricochet-surface mark characteristics with greater forensic significance for use in AK gun-related ricochet investigations. This study further emphasises the need for case-by-case empirical approaches to understanding the ricochet behaviour of different bullet- target combinations during ricochet investigations. The study also opens up a new research area to explore whether the observed results are common to steel core AK bullets or common to other ammunition types and tile surfaces with different compositions.