Epidemiology of Homicide-Suicide Events

Abstract

In Oklahoma, all nonnatural deaths must be reported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (ME), whose trained investigators report cause of death using a centralized, statewide, standardized reporting system. The purpose of this study was to determine temporal trends of Oklahoma homicide-suicide events and characterize the epidemiology of these events. By reviewing all ME reports of homicides and suicides from 1994 through 2001, we identified 73 homicide-suicide events resulting in 73 suicides and 89 homicides. Suicidal perpetrators of homicide-suicide events were most often white men aged >or=30 years who killed a current or ex-spouse or intimate partner. Homicide victims tended to be younger women the same race as their killer. Firearms were the predominant method of death in both homicides and suicides, with handguns used most frequently. Divorce/estrangement was the main contributing factor to these events, and the most common relationship type was possessive. The existence of a statewide, centralized, and computerized ME system and the ability to access the detailed information in the ME narratives were critical to identifying homicide-suicide events and obtaining the type of detailed information necessary to fully investigate these events.

A half century retrospective study of homicide–suicide in Geneva – Switzerland: 1956–2005

“…Homicide-suicide (HS), also referred to as homicide followed by the suicide of the perpetrator, is defined as a form of fatal violence, during which an individual kills one or several victims, without the consent of one or more of these persons and then commits suicide, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] immediately or after a very short period of time following the act of hetero-aggression. It is a relatively rare 2,5,7,9 but one of the most tragic and devastating events having a very strong impact on the public.…”

A demographic study of homicide–suicide in the Pretoria region over a 5 year period

“…This may reflect the amount of interracial relationships in this area and correlates with a study of homicide-suicides done in Oklahoma, where the victims tended to be the same race as their killer. 28 Among black African perpetrators 57.1% were single compared to 10% of Caucasian perpetrators. In contrast, 80% of Caucasian perpetrators were married, but black African perpetrators were married in 40% of cases.…”

“…Interestingly, there is a strong correlation between age and ethnicity. Black African perpetrators represent a younger age group (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29), and there is pre-dominance of Caucasian perpetrators in the older age group (>40).…”

Homicide–Suicide in China: an Exploratory Study of Characteristics and Types

“…Access to guns and threats with a weapon are significant risk factors for homicidesuicide (Comstock et al 2005). Almost all cases of police family homicide-suicide in the USA, for instance, are committed with police service firearms (Volantia 2007).…”