Crime scene investigations: Gunshot residue analysis on a single gunpowder particle

With what could be a shot in the arm for crime scene investigators, chemists have developed a reliable new test for detecting the presence of gun shot residue. Above is... Click here for more information.

NEW ORLEANS, April 6, 2008 — Scientists in Texas are reporting development of an highly dependable, rapid, and inexpensive new method for identifying the presence of gunshot residue (GSR). The test fills a GSR-detection gap that results from wider use of “green” — lead free — ammunition.

It requires only a single speck of GSR smaller than the period at the end of this sentence and could boost the accuracy of one of the most widely used tests employed at crime scenes involving gunplay.

In a poster presented here today at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, graduate student Garrett Lee Burleson and his advisor, chemist Jorn Chi Chung Yu, Ph.D., of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, described their new method. It extracts almost all components of gunpowder residue from particles about 15 times smaller than the width of a human hair, without the use of chemical reagents. After extraction, gas chromatography coupled with a nitrogen phosphorus detector is used to separate and identify the analytes.

“Gunshot residue tests are done in almost every case where a shooting has taken place,” Burleson said. “The main focus of our research is to develop a method that will help credibility of gunshot residue evidence in court. You can get results with this test in 30 to 40 minutes with the new test. In addition you only need small amounts of evidence to run the test.”