Fact 4: The location & trajectory of the gunshot wound are strongly inconsistent with a suicide. Together with the range, these findings should have prompted examination of alternative scenarios.

I didn’t get to see my son until the day before his funeral. I had been given so little information that I could not begin to imagine his condition or whether I would be allowed to see him. The mortician reassured me that he was still handsome and that I could. But nothing can ever prepare a mother for that moment. The realization that your child is in that casket cuts deep into the very soul of you. 

I felt a heavy numbness – a shield my soul must have created to help me take that step forward. The need to see him, to feel him mattered more than my anguish. And the moment I did, I was certain that the police account was flawed. What I had been told didn’t match what I was seeing. The questions, confusion, and even anger poured in like a flash flood. But even worse, at that moment, the anguish of seeing my lifeless son screamed silently within me.

Atypical Entry Site

Forensic pathology studies show that the most common entry sites in firearm suicides among adult males are:

1. the temple (nearly two-thirds of handgun suicides);

2. the mouth (intra-oral 15%-20%);

3. the forehead (frontal 5%-7%); and

4. below the chin (submental 2%-5%).

The gunshot wound was under the tip of Jaren’s nose (autopsy report notes it as the tip of his nose). Gunshot wounds entering through or beneath the nose are exceedingly rare in self-inflicted cases, representing well under 1% of reported suicidal craniofacial gunshot wounds in forensic literature. The nasal region is a small, protruding, and anatomically awkward target that does not align naturally with the orientation of the hand or the eye line when holding a handgun. 

When a gunshot wound appears at such an atypical site, it demands an exhaustive forensic investigation – of the scene, the weapon, and the bullet trajectory. Yet the Guam Police Department (GPD) failed to secure the scene or conduct a proper investigation, compromising the integrity of the entire case. As the medical examiner mentioned to me, approximately 95% of gunshot wounds involving the nasal area are classified as homicides.

Atypical Trajectory

The report further described the bullet’s path as almost directly front to back, with minimal deviation upward – entering at the nasal tip near the right nostril, passing through the lower maxillary region, the base of the skull, and into the brain. This trajectory suggests the gun was held in a relatively leveled position, parallel to the ground.

Mechanically, this is difficult for a person attempting suicide. Usually, victims use the natural weight of the hand and weapon to angle the shot toward the cranial vault or other vital areas. To produce the trajectory described, one scenario involves my son holding the gun straight out in front of his face, with one or both hands, fully extending his arms, and slightly rotating his wrists inward to align the barrel with the midline of his face, leveling it with his nose, and firing in an almost perfectly horizontal line. This represents a physically challenging, awkward, and unstable position. 

Another scenario involves a shooter of similar (but not necessarily identical) height, holding the gun at arm’s length, pointing it level at my son’s face, parallel to the ground, from about two to three feet away, with his or her finger resting on or very near the trigger. A sudden slip, startle, or involuntary squeeze could cause the gun to discharge, though also could have been caused from an intentional act.

A related possibility occurs if my son, realizing the gun is being pointed at him, reaches out to stop or deflect it, causing the shooter to reflexively tighten their grip or jerk in surprise, depressing the trigger and firing the round. 

Medical examiners consistently report that self-inflicted gunshot wounds through the nose are exceedingly rare. It’s hard to line up a gun that way, and most people have a strong fear or hesitation about pointing a gun right at their own face — making the other two scenarios more likely than the self-inflicted one.

Atypical Range of Fire

Approximately 90–95% of gunshot suicides are fired at a contact or near-contact range, producing visible soot, searing, or a muzzle imprint on the skin. The victim’s goal is to ensure lethality with placing the barrel directly against oneself.

In my son’s case, an intermediate-range wound, by contrast, showed stippling (tattooing from unburned gunpowder grains) and no soot or searing. This means the gun was fired from around 16-18 inches (per medical examiner’s statement) to several feet away. Intermediate-range suicides are rare.

Range characteristics combined with an atypical entry point and trajectory, strongly support a manner of death other than suicide. They are not minor details; they form the blueprint of the event that took my son’s life. 

GPD’s quick decision (less than two hours on the scene) to classify my son’s death as a suicide, after discovering the atypical wound location was both procedurally unjustified and scientifically unsound.