AFTE Store - An Identification of a Nail to a Nail Gun

A case study is presented involving an aggravated burglary where two offenders threatened a male victim with a nail gun, discharging nails within the victim’s residence to intimidate him. A nail recovered from the victim’s address was compared to a nail gun seized from the suspects. An impressed tool mark comparison from the nail gun’s striker to the nail head showed no useful correspondence. However, one fired nail recovered from the crime scene was able to be identified as having once formed part of the strip of nails still present within the nail gun, by a physical fit of the paper tape that holds the strips of nails together. The physical-fit evidence became critical to the resolution of the case and resulted in the offenders receiving custodial sentences for their involvement in the offence.