Victims of Tucson Shooting spree left at scene for 7 1/2 hours before autopsies arrived

6 were murdered at the Safeway grocery store, only one of them was removed from the scene. The others sat in supine, full rigor mortis position, bodies cool, with agents from the FBI and Pima County Sheriff's office, standing by until the autopsists arrived at 5:45 PM, almost 7 1/2 hours after the shooting which took place at 10:10 AM, and the ambulance arriving at 10:20 AM. Meaning the ambulance took Christine Taylor Green, the girl born on 9/11, and Gabrielle Giffords, but left five people at the scene, two of them from gunshot wounds to the torso. Should the ambulance have taken all the bodies away from the scene? There was a lack of security during the shooting, and when the police finally arrived on the scene they held the ambulance back for a short while while they were assessing to make sure the area was secure. Did they pronounce the five victims dead at the scene and tell the ambulance to not worry about them until the autopsists arrived?

The priority at any crime scene is first safety and second preservation of evidence.

Once the crime scene is made safe and all parties removed ie (offender(s), witnesses, Victims) the next stage is preservation of evidence.

If deceased persons are present and the weather imposes no risk to the loss of evidence they are covered and lie in situ. The bodies cannot normally be transported away from the scene by the same crew or vehicle as this can cause contamination of evidence. However each incident is different depending on the situation.

There is nothing wrong in leaving the bodies in situ for this amount of time whilst value evidence is preserved, photographed and subjected to soco (Scenes Of Crime) for further in depth evidence gathering.

The officers are doing there very best to gain evidence which is essential to any case.

Moving the bodies too early and allowing persons to trample the crime scene for any reason other than to preserve life and property is a no no.

Only when suffiecient evidence has been obtained can the bodies be removed and transported from the scene.

Although to the general public this may not seem ideal, it is sadly essential in conducting and completing good police work and there is nothing abnormal here.

Some of the victims died of internal bleeding, with a gun shot wound to the back. Would a doctor at the scene look at someone with a gun shot wound to the back and internal bleeding no later than 10 minutes and pronounce them unable to resuscitate? And who was it, doctor or police, that pronounced 5 of the victims dead and no need for an ambulance?

Paramedics will attend the scene and tend to the injured. If anyone is still alive they will be treated and where possible removed from the scene immediately. These are some of the few people allowed to enter the crime scene in order to preserve life.

Police officers cannot pronounce life extinct that has to be done by a doctor in most countries.

Contrary to popular belief most ambulance crews are not doctors and unable to pronounce life extinct per se however they are able to assess very accurately if a victim is in a state that would respond to resuscitation. Many pointers include pupil dilation, ecg readings etc etc.
Some fast response units do include doctors and they will pronounce life extinct at the scene.
Believe me if they could have been resucitated then they would have been but sometimes the injuries sustained are just far too severe.

Once someone is identified as life extinct there is no need for an ambulance.
You will probably find that the people you refer to as autopsists are nothing more than a private ambulances ie not one kitted out with lifesaving equipment. They often look like dark vans or minibuses with dark windows.

They will usually take the body directly to the Mortuary and sometimes the body will be accompanied by a law enforcement officer to ensure continuity of evidence.

In certain cases where the offender has not been found or identified the body or bodies can be frozen to preserve evidence prior to the identification and conviction of an offender.

I hope this answers some of your concerns and what I describe can vary slightly state to state or country to country depending on local procedures but it's pretty much the same process.

reply to post by studio500


Fantastic answers. May I ask what your occupation is? I am just curious.