Abstract:
Bullet ricochet is a common occurrence in shooting incidents where misaimed or accidentally
fired shots ricochet off nearby surfaces and kill or injure victims. When a bullet ricochet incident has
led to a death or injury of a victim, the case becomes more serious, and understanding of what exactly
happened becomes critical for the investigation and for subsequent criminal trials. In such situations,
shooting investigators conduct "bullet ricochet analysis" to understand the accurate ricochet event
that transpired. The main objective of a ricochet analysis is to reconstruct the ricocheted bullet's
trajectories and approaching angles using the ricochet evidence found in the scene. As ricochet angles
and evidence production are unique to a particular bullet-target combination, empirical test results on
bullet ricochet studies in the existing literature are considered the most reliable and scientific
information to refer to during ricochet analysis.
This series of interrelated experiments investigated AK bullet's ricochet behaviours and
ricochet-related scientific evidence with 13 different surface types prone to be encountered in bullet
Ticochet incidents. The study's outcome presents a series of groundbreaking novel findings that can be
used in future AK gun-related investigations, fulfilling a most demanding need in the shooting
investigation field. The study's results are a significant departure from the widespread beliefs, such as
that ricochet is an unpredictable event and the previous experimental studies are always reliable to
refer to during scene reconstructions. The findings highlight the complex and diverse ricochet
phenomena of AK bullets with scientific explanations for each behaviour and the significant role play
by the ricochet surface type and the bullet type for the subsequent ricochet behaviours. The study also
emphasises the great uncertainties and possible errors that might occur even previous experimental
studies are used for scene reconstructions. The novelty and the international significance of the
findings of this study are evident of already published series of journal articles in the highest-ranked
forensic science journals in the world.
