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Lots of bullets turn into fragments and/or are never found. The slug typically doesn't have forensic evidence on it, but the casing usually does. A shooter would be more likely to pick up his spent brass than dig out the bullets, as the brass could have fingerprints or DNA on it.
The marks on the primer cap left by the firing pin, along with scratches on the brass, can often be matched to a particular gun. The rifling marks left on the slug can also be traced, but the slug has to be fairly intact for that to happen. Most of the time, a slug is examined only when a gun is found.
It would make far more sense for the shooter to get rid of the gun or pick up the brass than to spend a lot of time trying to dig out the bullets. Most guns used in shootings are discarded afterward by the guys who know a lot about them. Cops are typically issued a pistol, but they often carry a second they purchased themselves, and the second gun could be very hard to trace, especially if it was bought at a gun show or from someone else as a used weapon. Guns can go through many hands for decades, too, as an old gun can be decades old but still work just fine.
Okay thanks. Let's say the main cop does have a second gun though that he bought himself.
Once the villain is arrested, he is going to point the finger at the main cop and say that he is the one who killed the other cop, and that he is the one who framed him for his death.
So if that happens, would the main cop's superiors as him to turn in his second gun for testing? Would they know he has a second gun on record?
This is the scene of various B-movies. Most don't bother with the details, you would probably be OK as well in terms of "suspending belief". If you were really detailed you would have to address these give-aways. And non of these are new technology:
-Ballistic matching of bullets to a firearm has been around for about 150 years. How would he frame the villain with the police officers gun?
-To address #1 I guess you can have the fictionalized police untraceable "throw down gun". Too stereotypical but I guess that works. Then the issue of why would an officer not be using his main service revolver?
-Or better yet you can say the villain grabbed and disarmed the officer I guess. He would probably be just as much in trouble with that news.
-Old fashioned witnesses - you would assume there would be no witnesses with cell phones?
-Simple autopsies would detect the direction of fire - nothing new there. You would have to assume the police officer and villain are on the same plain of fire or the officer lies about where the villian was standing.
The bolded part is good advice.
Remember - virtually all fiction is ultimately fantasy. Keep it within spitting distance of plausibility and you'll be fine.
Okay thanks. Let's say the main cop does have a second gun though that he bought himself.
Once the villain is arrested, he is going to point the finger at the main cop and say that he is the one who killed the other cop, and that he is the one who framed him for his death.
So if that happens, would the main cop's superiors as him to turn in his second gun for testing? Would they know he has a second gun on record?
What do you think?
Make up the scenario yourself.
All that really matters is the fact cops have easy access to guns.
The guns can be legally purchased or not, can be borrowed from police evidence lockers, be taken during arrest from criminals, be given to them by anyone, can be picked up at a crime scene, etc.
It's your world, Make up any scenario that fits.
If something doesn't come to mind at first, work at it. Make a list of plausible possibilities just as I did above. All those possibilities came to me as I wrote. In about a minute, flat.
I'm not being mean here, but I don't think you are working hard enough imagining the world you are creating.
Why did you take for granted the cop's superiors would know anything about his second gun? By doing so, you eliminated a ton of possibilities that could push your story along.
You have to do your own heavy lifting. Writing is sometimes very hard mental work, but if you want to be a writer, you have to be able to do that mental work. It's like weight lifting; the more you do, the stronger at it you become.
Okay thanks. The problem I have is, is that the cannot plan on this in advance, cause he kills the other cop, by accident and then wants to cover up the accident. So if I have him go in with things like gloves, and an untraceable weapon, it looks premeditated, and against his character.
As for the superiors, I just assume that they would know about it cause it seems logical that all cops would be required to register all their secondary guns with the department. And if mine doesn't, it looks premeditated or and not by accident. Or maybe not premeditated but it makes him look clairvoyant since he somehow planned for it and saw it coming, even though he didn't see it coming, if that makes sense.
What if I wrote it so that the cop bought a secondary gun but in this universe he is not required to register it, if that's believable? And then he uses that gun to kill the other cop by accident, and then after, gets rid of it? He would have to pay cash though, which is odd for making a gun purchase. The villain would point his finger at him and said that it was him who killed the cop and framed him. However, just an accusation alone is not enough to get a warrant to search bank records for such a purchase, right?
Is that enough to make it believable for an audience?
Modern forensics does not solve every murder by a long shot. While it's able to gather evidence that was once impossible to gather, forensics cannot answer many questions that arise from a need for motive, conflicting testimony, sequence of events, time line, and other factors.
Sometimes forensics actually muddies the waters and causes confusion and conflict with other evidence such as testimony, recollection, and other things that could make for a better case with more solid evidence.
So I wouldn't worry too much about being completely realistic when it comes to forensics. Real juries have chosen to disbelieve it in their verdicts, and in your fictional world, you can make everything as you want. Avoiding the most obvious and glaring forensic findings shouldn't be all that difficult. Use your powers of invention if you must and invent dissolving bullets or something.
I'm replying to this post because banjomike covered much of what I was going to say anyways. When you watch the TV crime dramas and movies, forensics is ALWAYS there to put away the bad guys. However, sometimes that's not enough. For example, a 4-pt fingerprint match is common, but it's a very low accuracy rate for determining a match. Real life trials had to deal with this too... the jury will ask "what CSI is available", DNA, fingerprints, etc., but even large PDs may not be able to have this on hand, let alone smaller ones.
Okay thanks. The problem I have is, is that the cannot plan on this in advance, cause he kills the other cop, by accident and then wants to cover up the accident. So if I have him go in with things like gloves, and an untraceable weapon, it looks premeditated, and against his character.
As for the superiors, I just assume that they would know about it cause it seems logical that all cops would be required to register all their secondary guns with the department. And if mine doesn't, it looks premeditated or and not by accident. Or maybe not premeditated but it makes him look clairvoyant since he somehow planned for it and saw it coming, even though he didn't see it coming, if that makes sense.
What if I wrote it so that the cop bought a secondary gun but in this universe he is not required to register it, if that's believable? And then he uses that gun to kill the other cop by accident, and then after, gets rid of it? He would have to pay cash though, which is odd for making a gun purchase. The villain would point his finger at him and said that it was him who killed the cop and framed him. However, just an accusation alone is not enough to get a warrant to search bank records for such a purchase, right?
Is that enough to make it believable for an audience?
The only problem you have is the accidental killing. Cops kill other cops accidentally. It comes with the job. If the killing is truly accidental, it's more realistic that the innocent cop would say it was an accident to the police internal investigators.
That's exactly what happens once in a while, everywhere. One cop accidentally shoots another pretty frequently. The readers all know this.
Then, the investigators would use the evidence and determine the killing WAS accidental. And there goes the rest of your story, down the tubes.
Otherwise, you don't have a plot to carry your story. The innocent cop has to have a desperate reason to find the villain. If it was an accident, he has no reason to go looking for the bad guy.
Yeah but OJ was still caught. Even though he was acquitted, he still failed to frame anyone else for it.
What about any of the suggestions I gave for what my main cop would do? Would any of those work?
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