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Forensic Results Determined All Gun Shot Wounds to the Head as Self-Inflicted

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Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office News Release Regarding the deaths of inmates after taking hostages at the Kaohsiung Prison, the task force with members from the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office, the forensic science center of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, the forensic science center of Kaohsiung City Police Department, and others have completed the forensic assessment report, taking into consideration the autopsy reports by the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Ministry of Justice and having gathered related material evidence from the scene and carried out forensic examinations, such as forensic ballistics, bloodstain pattern analysis, and forensic DNA testing. The key findings were as follows: 1.Based on how the bodies of the six inmates were positioned and piled and how the blood poured down their heads, nothing abnormal was discovered, and it could be determined that the crime scene had not been tampered with and was indeed the original crime scene. 2.Based on the bodies’ positions, the guns’ locations, the bullet entries’ muzzle imprints, the back spatters on their hands, and results of DNA testing to the inside of the barrels, the triggers, and the slides, it was determined that gunshot wounds to the six inmates’ heads were all “self-inflicted”. 3. Following investigation, the 6 handguns and 4 rifles seized from the scene were 9mm semi-automatic handguns and 5.56mm automatic rifles respectively, all with 6 right-hand twist riflings inside the barrel. 4.Comparisons of shell casing base markings and bullet rifling patterns on shell casings and bullets found at the scene revealed that none of them matched the handgun (No. 109) handed over by the prison warden Chen at the scene, which was enough to show that none were fired from this particular handgun. 5.The cartridge of the handgun (No. 109) handed over by the prison warden Chen at the scene was empty at the time, and results of DNA testing to the inside of the barrel, the grip/trigger, and the slide of this particular handgun revealed no DNA traces of any kind. For the investigation of the Kaohsiung Prison inmate hostage-taking incident, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Huang Yuan-kuan, Head Prosecutor for Serious Crimes Chen Chun-hsiu and Prosecutor Lin Chun-chieh were appointed by Chief Prosecutor of Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office Tsai Jui-tsung to work actively with experts like the director of CIB forensic science center, Cheng Hsiao-kui, and the director of KCPD forensic science center, Hsu Shun-cheng, on a task force. Since the end of February, the task force has contacted the internationally-renowned forensic scientist Dr. Henry C. Lee on many occasions by overseas phone calls, and he generously agreed to help examine the scope, procedures and results of forensic assessment voluntarily. Taking advantage of the opportunity when Dr. Henry C. Lee transited through Taoyuan International Airport on the morning of March 9th and twice meeting Dr. Henry C. Lee on March 15th and 19th, the task force discussed the various evidence and forensic results, one-by-one, with Dr. Henry C. Lee and gradually made revisions, after taking Dr. Henry C. Lee’s suggestions into consideration, to finalize the forensic assessment report.

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