Malicious homicide with a machine pistol (submachine gun)

In Central Europe deaths by gunshots from machine pistols are a rarity. In Germany all machine pistols introduced by armed forces after 2 September 1945 are subject to the War Weapons Control Act. A machine pistol is a compact, lightweight, fully-automatic handgun with a short barrel firing pistol ammunition. Machine pistols have a high magazine capacity and are fired using both hands. Models capable of firing single shots can also be switched to fully automatic fire. In the present case a 39-year-old man, who was sitting in a car, was killed at close range by four shots fired in single-shot mode from a Scorpion mod. 61 cal. 7.65 mm Browning machine pistol. To avoid arousing the victim's suspicion the perpetrator feigned to hand over money. The weapon was concealed in a large paper envelope, which was torn by the first shot and showed soot deposits on the inside. The wound morphological characteristics were consistent with the injury pattern seen after the use of 7.65 mm caliber pistols. The autopsy findings and the results of the police investigations are presented and discussed against the background of the relevant literature.