Homicide–suicide in the United States, 1968–1975

Case report: An extreme homicide–suicide by a 12-year-old girl

“…Previous studies show that the perpetrator who committed homicide-suicide was mostly male over 20 years of age who most often used a gun. Victims were usually their past or present wives or sexual partners (Bridges & Lester, 2011;Cooper & Eaves, 1996;Dogan, Demirci, Gunaydin, & Buken, 2010;Grabherr et al, 2010;Koziol-McLain et al, 2006;Krulewitch, 2009;Paschen & Püschel, 2007;Richardson & Hemenway, 2011;Roberts, Wassenaar, Canetto, & Pillay, 2010;Travis, Johnson, & Milroy, 2007). Our case differs from previously published cases by a 12-year-old girl and who killed her three-year-old sister.…”

Estimates of Homicide-Suicides Among the Elderly, 1968 to 1975

“…In general, the results of the present study and others support the view that homicide-suicides are for the most part the result of intimate partner violence, especially involving spouses. In addition, there is general agreement in the research literature on the use of handguns and other firearms as the weapon of choice in homicide-suicides (Bridges & Lester, 2011;Liem, 2010;Riedel, 2010). Cohen (2000, p. 6) reported that "predisposing risk factors include advanced age and a long-lived marriage where one or both members of the couple have real or perceived multiple health problems, as well as depression and other psychiatric problems in the perpetrator.Others reported risk factors for elderly homicide-suicides also included caregiver stress, living arrangements, desperation, depression, and other psychopathologies (Cohen, 2000;Cohen et al, 1998;Hiroeh, Appleby, Mortensen, & Dunn, 2001;Paveza et.…”

An unusual case of “dyadic-death” with a single gunshot

“…The rate is higher in the US (0.22-0.46 per 100,000 population per year) [6] than in Europe (0.05-0.16 per 100,000 population per year) [2], with the lowest prevalence registered in the Netherlands, Greece, England, Italy (0.03-0.07 per 100,000 population per year) [2,4,5] and Japan (0.02-0.06 per 100,000 population per year) [7,8].…”

“…The rate of murder-suicides occurring around the world ranges from 0.02 to 0.46 per 100,000 population per year, with significant national and regional variations [1][2][3][4][5][6].…”

“…The majority of these incidents involve firearms (i.e. handguns, shotguns and rifles), followed by sharp force instruments, strangulation/suffocation, and carbon monoxide poisoning [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”