This is a true story about a suicide gone wrong...
On march 23, 1994 a medical examination on the body of a Mr Ronald OPUS concluded that he died from a gunshot wound to the head. Mr OPUS had jumped from the top of a 10 story building intending to commit suicide. He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor - his life was ended by a shot-gun blast passing through a window. He was killed instantly from the shot to the head.
Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the 8th floor level to protect some building workers and that Mr OPUS would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.
"ORDINARILY" the examiner concluded "A PERSON WHO SETS OUT TO COMMIT SUICIDE AND ULTIMATELY SUCCEEDS, EVEN THOUGH THE MECHANISM MIGHT NOT BE WHAT HE INTENDED, IS STILL DEFINED AS COMMITTING SUICIDE". That Mr OPUS was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not have been successful because of the installation of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that the case should be treated as a homicide.
The room on the 9th floor where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorusly and he was threatening her with a shotguy. The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window , striking Mr OPUS.
"WHEN ONE INTENDS TO KILL SUBJECT 'A' BUT KILLS SUBJECT 'B' IN THE ATTEMPT, ONE IS GUILTY OF THE MURDER OF SUBJECT 'B' " according to law.
WHen confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant and both said that they thought the shot-gun was unloaded. The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention of murdering her. She concurred with this statement.
THEREFORE, the killing of Mr OPUS appeared to be an accident; that is, if the gun had been loaded accidently.
The continuing investigation turned up a witness whho saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal shooting.
It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother. (Hence - his pay-back for being financially abandoned by the pair).
Since the loader of the gun was aware of this - and the intention was to murder someone, he was guilty of the murder of Mr OPUS even though he did not actually pull the trigger.
The case now becomes one of Murder on the part of the son for the death of Mr OPUS.
Now comes the exquisite twist.
Further investigation revealed that the son was in fact Mr Ronald OPUS. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mothers murder. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had actually murdered himself, so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
Again - this is a true story!
I dont know about you, but I couldn't make up a story like this !
On march 23, 1994 a medical examination on the body of a Mr Ronald OPUS concluded that he died from a gunshot wound to the head. Mr OPUS had jumped from the top of a 10 story building intending to commit suicide. He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor - his life was ended by a shot-gun blast passing through a window. He was killed instantly from the shot to the head.
Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the 8th floor level to protect some building workers and that Mr OPUS would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.
"ORDINARILY" the examiner concluded "A PERSON WHO SETS OUT TO COMMIT SUICIDE AND ULTIMATELY SUCCEEDS, EVEN THOUGH THE MECHANISM MIGHT NOT BE WHAT HE INTENDED, IS STILL DEFINED AS COMMITTING SUICIDE". That Mr OPUS was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not have been successful because of the installation of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that the case should be treated as a homicide.
The room on the 9th floor where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorusly and he was threatening her with a shotguy. The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window , striking Mr OPUS.
"WHEN ONE INTENDS TO KILL SUBJECT 'A' BUT KILLS SUBJECT 'B' IN THE ATTEMPT, ONE IS GUILTY OF THE MURDER OF SUBJECT 'B' " according to law.
WHen confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant and both said that they thought the shot-gun was unloaded. The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention of murdering her. She concurred with this statement.
THEREFORE, the killing of Mr OPUS appeared to be an accident; that is, if the gun had been loaded accidently.
The continuing investigation turned up a witness whho saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal shooting.
It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother. (Hence - his pay-back for being financially abandoned by the pair).
Since the loader of the gun was aware of this - and the intention was to murder someone, he was guilty of the murder of Mr OPUS even though he did not actually pull the trigger.
The case now becomes one of Murder on the part of the son for the death of Mr OPUS.
Now comes the exquisite twist.
Further investigation revealed that the son was in fact Mr Ronald OPUS. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mothers murder. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had actually murdered himself, so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
Again - this is a true story!
I dont know about you, but I couldn't make up a story like this !
