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The good news is that the two suspects were convicted and have been imprisoned.
The bad news was that the two killers refused to identify their cohorts and the thirty one
remaining unsolved cases in the 3K-Killings series soon went cold.
Police had hundreds of pieces of firearms evidence related to the 3K-Killings. They believed that 11
different guns had been used during the crime spree - considering the two seized in connection with
the Scarlet Garcia Murders that meant 9 remained unaccounted for.
During that same year, the Republic of the Philippines put new policies in place hoping to better cope
with gun crime including the so-called "Extra Judicial Killings". The Government required all new
firearms to be test-fired before being sold to the public. The test fires were to be saved for future
ballistics imaging and encoding. A period of amnesty was also declared during which possessors of
unlicensed firearms could have them licensed and test-fired without fear of being criminally charged
with possession of an unlicensed firearm.
In March of 2011, the PNP Firearms Identification Division (FAID) began the ballistics imaging
process of their inventory of ballistics evidence with their newly-acquired Integrated Ballistic
Identification Systems (IBIS). Within six months, IBIS helped the FAID generate over 500 hits
(matches) from their evidence database of about 15,000 exhibits.
Encouraged by their initial results, the FAID focused on entering the cold case evidence from the 3KKillings into IBIS. This action met with surprising results the identification of three more 3K-Killings
cases expanding the total number of cases to thirty six and sadly adding more victims to the list.
Then in December of 2011, the FAID generated an IBIS hit so big as to be described as a Ballistics
Tsunami. Its effects were particularly surprising because the hit came from an unexpected source
the database of test fired ballistics reference images from the 2008 amnesty guns!
The amnesty test fire from a certain Glock pistol in turn hit to ninetyother exhibits linking that gun to
twenty four of the thirty six open cases associated with the 3K-Killings series. It is the gun used in the
first of the 3K-Killings the one from the murder in Cavite Province in 2005 police had searched for
it for seven years.
This Ballistics Tsunami carried police investigators to the front door of the Glock's owner of record.
Because the case is ongoing police are not saying anymore at this time except that the cases are
progressing.
However, Supt. Rey de Guzman, Chief of the PNPs FAID made this general comment about the
matter: It was made possible through the three essential components: people, processes and IBIS
technology - it works!
Pete Gagliardi
Foreword.
1 Firearms.
1.1 A Brief History of Firearms.
1.2 Weapon Types and Their Operation.
1.3 Proof Marks.
Further Reading.
2 Ammunition.
2.1 A Brief History of Ammunition.
2.2 Ammunition Components.
2.3 Non-toxic Shot.
9.1 Introduction.
9.2 General Background Questions.
9.3 Comparison Microscopy.
9.4 GSRs.
9.5 Ferrozine Test.
9.6 Standard of Review: Daubert Trilogy.
10 Classification of Firearm-Related Death.
10.1 Multiple-Shot Suicides.
11 Glossary.
Appendix 1 Important dates in the History of Firearms from 1247.
Appendix 2 GSR results for Chinese and USSR ammunition.
Appendix 3 Primer content of some cartridge-operated nail guns.
Appendix 4 Commercial and General Abbreviations for Bullet Configurations.
Appendix 5 Trade Names.
Appendix 6 Gun Marks.
Appendix 7 Powder Burn Rate.
Appendix 8 Hearing Loss.
Appendix 9 General Firearms Values Conversion Table.
History of Ballistics
Ballista is latin for "Giant Crossbow" and is the first of many projectiles.
Cannons were first used at the Battle of Crecy but it wasn't until 1300 that
the first basic gun was developed. The first drawing of a gun was found from
the year 1326. In 1350, the first "hand cannon" allowed for portability. To
increase reliability of lighting gunpowder, flint replaced matches in 1517.
Reverend Alexander John Forsyth of Scotland invented the first primer
powder in 1805. *You may use Rev. Forsyth for your research paper.
John Hall of the United States created two advances in 1817. The first was
the breech-loader. The second was using assembly lines for manufacturing.
The biggest benefit with assembly lines was the fact that interchangeable
parts were developed, standardizing the industry. Gaspard Kollner of Vienna
improved the aim (and created rifles in the process) by adding grooves to the
inside of a musket barrel. The next advance was that a cartridge was
developed that contained the primer, powder, and ball all in one package.
Sam Colt added his touch, and a new gun line, by creating the revolving
cylinder or revolver. The first side by side analysis of bullets was done by
Philip Gravelle when he created the first comparison microscope. Calvin
Goddard used the comparison microscope in 1927 to analyze bullets in a
murder case.
Remember that guns are emptied, tied up to prevent accidental firing, put in
a cardboard box, and personally delivered to the lab. Never stick a pen or
pencil down the barrel as it may add scratches that leave marks from the
lands. Lands are the ridges and grooves are the valleys inside the bore.
What is Ballistics?
Ballistics is the area of Forensic Science that deals with firearms; how they
are used, why they are used and why they are used frequently in the
practice of murder.
What many people do not realise is that when a person is shot the wound
and the condition of the victim can tell a lot about the nature of the weapon
that has been used. Indeed if the weapon has been left at the scene of the
crime - which sometimes happens when the perpetrator panics - the weapon
itself can go a long way to providing valuable information as to the kind of
person who has committed the offence.
Identifying a Weapon
Most guns have their own unique identifying features and even if the gun has
not been left at the crime scene many degrees of information can be
determined from the bullet, the nature of the wound and any residue that is
left around it.
Bullets contain a mixture of gunpowder and cordite and these leave burn
marks on the skin of the individual either wounded or killed, they also leave
a fine residue on the fingers and hands of the individual firing the gun. These
burn marks can signify closeness of the victim to the perpetrator, kind of
weapon and also if the weapon has had any modifications made to it. Some
weapons have been disarmed by having the firing pins and mechanisms
removed but there are individuals who can 'reactivate' these weapons for
use again.
Also, each weapon's barrel contains small ligatures and grooves, which,
when a bullet is fired from them, make marks on the shell casing, which can
be used as a means of identifying the make and model of gun if these shell
casings are found at the scene.
Investigating
The field of ballistics is able to identify rifling patterns, marks made by using
suppressors (silencers), shell casings, powder burn and many other different
areas relating to the use of firearms and the evidence they leave behind.
7
Indeed most ballistics experts will be able to tell you the particular weapon
simply by the sound of it being fired. They will also be able to carry out
distance and depth tests which include firing rounds of ammunition into
water, sand and other substances to determine how close a person would
have to be to receive a life threatening wound from a gun.
Ballistics is a very important part of the world of Forensic Science and much
of its evidence is used in criminal proceedings. In some cases the use of
ballistics research can prove a link between many different crimes carried
out over a lengthy period of time. This is also an important function of the
ballistics team as many weapons are passed and sold on between criminals
during their life cycle.
ballistics as the branch of applied physics that studies the motion of missiles
or projectiles of all types and the conditions that influence that motion; which
put simply means the study of firearms and ammunition. When ballistics are
examined within a legal context the prefix forensic can then be applied.
A very useful defintion of appeared in a U.S. House Bill back in 2000, which
stated that forensic-ballistics is "a comparative analysis of fired bullets and
cartridge casings to identify the firearm from which the bullets or cartridge
casings were discharged through the identification of the unique
characteristics that each firearm imprints on bullets and cartridge casings
forensic
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Forensic
Belonging to courts of justice.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale
Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
forensic
1) adj. from Latin forensis for "belonging to the forum," ancient Rome's site
for public debate, and currently meaning pertaining to the courts. Thus,
forensic testimony or forensic medicine are used to assist the court or the
attorneys in legal matters, including trials.