HoF+Report+Here

Captain Barra , After careful investigation of the Vallone-Smith incident I have determined that all is not as it seems.

After hearing about the shooting I immediately called the police to warn them to leave the crime scene as is. Arriving an hour after the police, I had Mr. Smith give me his account of what happened and then I began to carefully observe the room. I noticed something odd right off the bat; Mr. Vallone was holding his gun in his left hand. This did not make sense, as anyone who knew him knew that his left hand was all but immobile. It was filled with shrapnel while he was deployed to Vietnam.

I then proceeded to study his weapon, where I noticed something big. He was holding a Colt made M1911[1] with an empty chamber. In recoil-operated pistols, a new cartridge [2] is automatically brought into the chamber after every shot. Had this pistol been fired, there would be another round in the chamber. Also, this type of pistol cannot be fired without a cartridge in the chamber. When preparing to shoot one, the user must manually chamber a round by pulling the weapon’s slide back. It is astronomically unlikely that someone who has handled firearms in the Army for years would forget to chamber a round when preparing to shoot someone.

I next swept the room for casings [3] but found none. According to Mr. Smith’s story, there should be one casing left in the room. When a semiautomatic is fired (like Mr. Vallone’s M1911) the casing from the cartridge is ejected. However, when a revolver is fired (like the .38 Mr. Smith was holding), the casing from the spent cartridge does not get ejected, it remains in the weapon’s cylinder. The lack of a casing suggests that either someone picked up and hid the casing from Mr. Vallone's weapon, or that both gunshots came from a firearm that does not eject shells.

My conclusion from all of this evidence is that Mr. Smith is lying. He should be questioned to look for any other inconsistencies. I believe that an eye should be kept on him while he is out of custody, as he is a potential flight risk. I would suggest that a forensics team test Mr. Vallone’s hand for GSR [4]. I have a feeling that the test will prove that he did not fire any guns that night. I would also suggest that Mr. Vallone’s M1911 be tested to determine whether it was actually fired. The forensics team should also try to see whether the path of the bullet behind Mr. Smith lines up with where Mr. Vallone was supposed to have been standing.

-Det. Cooper

[1] An M1911 is a recoil operated, semiautomatic pistol. It was the standard issue sidearm for the US Army from 1911 to 1985. [2] A cartridge is the ammunition fired by small arms. It consists of a bullet, a casing and a charge of gunpowder. [3] Casings are the outer part of a cartridge, which contain the propellant used to accelerate a bullet. [4] GSR or Gun Shot Residue is a mixture of primer and propellant left from the firing of a gun.