AFTE Store - The Sound of Shots

A request was made by a deputy district attorney assigned to a double homicide/attempted homicide case to estimate, in a controlled laboratory setting, how quickly a pistol could be fired by one shooter, then handed off to and fired by another shooter. Assistance with this case was provided in order to determine if an eyewitness account of two shooters passing one gun was credible or if one shooter acting alone was more likely, and if this coincided with the actual shots recorded during a 911 call. Multiple variations replicating how the shooting may have occurred were both audio- and video-recorded using a Nikon D300s camera. The time lapse between these shots and shots from the 911 call were measured, using Audacity recording/editing software, and compared. Due to the proliferation of cell phone recordings of violent crimes, further research was performed to compare the recording capabilities of common cellular phones, as well as to evaluate readily available recording/editing software.