Forensic Files 1.2
"The Magic Bullet"
The Magic Bullet
Air date: 10/17/1996
Chronology: season 1, episode 2
Victim: Leland Harold "Trey" Cooley III
Date of birth: 05/11/1977
Date of death: 09/29/1991
Cause of death: Gunshot wound
Location: Carrollton, Texas, U.S.A.
Perpetrator: Accident
The crime: During a marksman competition, Dan Smith fired a shot that escaped the range, traveled through a safety building, and struck Trey Cooley in the head. This was made possible by a combination of inadequate safety measures at the range, a modified gun that was more likely to "double" upon recoil, modified ammunition that was much deadlier, and changes in shooting protocol due to the competition rules.
Techniques: Ballistics, accident reconstruction, laser trajectory projection, forensic animation
Professionals: Larry Fletcher (firearms examiner), Ken Buster, PhD (gun range expert), Stephen Irwin (accident reconstructionist), Kirk Parks (forensic animator), Sgt. Dave Taylor (Carrollton, TX police), Hon. Bill Rhea (judge), C.L. Mike Schmidt (attorney), Peter Thomas (narrator)