Cop botches suicide attempt sparked by wedding woes

[jsalcedo]

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20040919p2a00m0dm004000c.html



HIROSHIMA -- A police sergeant who attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head with his service revolver because of problems with a marriage failed to take his own life after he missed his target despite firing from point-blank range, according to police.

The 30-year-old sergeant, whose name has not been disclosed, was not injured by the shot, which blasted through a window in the Hiroshima Prefectural Police force headquarters.

Another officer in the same room when the incident occurred also escaped unscathed.

Internal affairs officers are questioning the sergeant with a view to laying charges for breaking the Firearms and Swords Control Law. The sergeant admits to firing the unauthorized shot.

"I was worried about a problem with my marriage. I wanted to commit suicide and pulling the trigger was just a reflex action," the sergeant said.

Police said the sergeant's shot burst through an office window and slammed into a wall of the adjacent wing. (Mainichi Shimbun, Sept. 19, 2004)

 

[SodiumBenzoate]

He tried to shoot himself in the head and missed?!

 

[deej]

I guess Japan's high suicide rate and low firearm death rate collided to save this guy's life.

 

[stv]

That's a really bad flinch. Needs more dry fire practice.

 

[4v50 Gary]

what STV says. Still, I suppose it's not a joking matter. Goes to show that if people really wanted to do themselves in, whether they had a gun or not, they can kill themselves.

 

[geekWithA.45]

It's actually pretty common.

Extra bullet holes in the room with a self killed body, scorches, or near miss furrows are what the coroner calls "hesitation marks".

Of course, seeing as he tried it IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, it seems more like a call for help.

 

[Preacherman]

Needs more time at the range...

 

[Gunpacker]

That's why the Japenese usually use swords. Hard to miss.

 

[Mulliga]

I feel bad for the officer, but it does sort of make sense...

It's Japan, and they don't have a gun culture (well, they do, it's just that they can't own firearms without turning their lives upside-down). How many times do you think this cop fired his service weapon? I'm guessing it was a DA revolver with a long trigger pull - easy to pull the gun off to one side with such a heavy trigger.

 

[Dionysusigma]

But when your target is attached to the rest of you, how the heck can you not hit it? Not even injured...

I was worried about a problem with my marriage

Read my sig line. Where was yours?

 

[aut2no]

Having worked in psychiatric settings, it was my experience that many suicide "attempts" are actually calculated not to succeed. The attempt can be a means to demand attention to one's situation. Sadly, many MIScalculate and die.

I will admit my experience with partial attempts has been mostly with drug overdose, hangings, cut wrists and not firearms.

 

[crewchief]

I will agree with Mulliga on the hard trigger pull and the fact that he only weighs 70lbs that 6lb trigger can feel like a ton.

 

[Tory]

Basis for assertion?

"...the fact that he only weighs 70lbs ..."

Where was that highly unlikely fact stated?

For that matter, how is it a police officer does not know how to cock his service arm? Trigger weight and length of pull problem solved.

Of course, that presumes he was really trying, which I doubt.

 

[stevelyn]

The story don't give any details about the "wedding woes", but my guess is he dodged two bullets. The first one when the wedding/marriage failed to keep him prisoner for life and the second when the bullet made a detour around his head.

 

[Feanaro]

Where was that highly unlikely fact stated?

I would like to direct you to a dictionary and words beginning with S. "Sarcasm" is what you'll be looking for.