Most Bizarre Suicide

[BlueRose]

Bizarre in the way of wtf coincidence

1994's MOST BIZARRE SUICIDE

At the 1994 annual awards dinner given by the American Association for Forensic Science, AAFS President Don Harper Mills astounded his audience in San Diego with the legal complications of a bizarre death. Here is the story.

"On 23 March 1994, the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound of the head. The decedent had jumped from the top of a ten- story building intending to commit suicide (he left a note indicating his despondency). As he fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the eighth floor level to protect some window washers and that Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide anyway because of this." >>"Ordinarily," Dr. Mills continued, "a person who sets out to commit suicide ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended. That Opus was shot on the way to certain death nine stories below probably would not have changed his mode of death from suicide to homicide. But the fact that his suicidal intent would not have been successful caused the medical examiner to feel that he had homicide on his hands. "The room on the ninth floor whence the shotgun blast emanated was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing and he was threatening her with the shotgun. He was so upset that, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the a window striking Opus.

"When one intends to kill subject A but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B. When confronted with this charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant that neither knew that the shotgun was loaded. The old man said it was his long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her - therefore, the killing of Opus appeared to be an accident. That is, the gun had been accidentally loaded.

"The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the fatal incident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.

There was an exquisite twist. "Further investigation revealed that the son [Ronald Opus] had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23, only to be killed by a shotgun blast through a ninth story window.

"The medical examiner closed the case as a suicide."

[Squee]

Makes me sad that I learned it was all false.

[Jorick]

I've read that before, but it's still awesome. :D

- - - Updated - - -

Makes me sad that I learned it was all false.

Not surprising, but it's still a fun story.

[Goldmarble]

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.asp

[BlueRose]

Makes me sad that I learned it was all false.

It's false? D: dawww Jorick's right, still a fun story but psh :T

[Alphakoka]

It's false? D: dawww Jorick's right, still a fun story but psh :T

Just how big is the chances of that happening exactly that way anyway?
A fun story to read though.

[BlueRose]

Just how big is the chances of that happening exactly that way anyway?
A fun story to read though.

Considering there are 7 billion people currently alive on the planet and who knows how many have ever been alive, then of that how many commit suicide, and then of that how many do so by jumping off a building I'd say there's a chance. If a cut can be knocked off a table while half full of water and land perfectly top down without spilling a drop, trapping all the water inside (which I've seen done) I think the story could happen even if this particular one isn't true.

[Alphakoka]

Yeah, getting shot while jumping down is possible, regardless of the small chance of doing it with one shot from a perpendicular angle. Even smaller to do so accidentally

But, really, how miniscule is that particular series of event would happen? Son rigged dad's gun to shoot mother, getting depressed that it won't shoot and then try to suicide (pretty idiotic on him), Dad and Mom fighting to the extent of shotgun being pointed at the window, accidentally shooting at the exact moment that it hit the head. Heck, I would even point out, how much is the chance he jumped where he would pass down his parent's window as I'm getting the vibes that it's an apartment. Granted, I can see that the family could rent rooms with that position. Then there's also the chance that he did so in window cleaning day when there's a safety net on.

Again, it's still a fun story to read.

[Antarctic Termite]

Read it before. It must be karma.

EDIT: Or else God has a cruel, cruel sense of humour.

[Alphakoka]

Read it before. It must be karma.

EDIT: Or else God has a cruel, cruel sense of humour.

Or someone had a good imagination.