Murder-suicide is “a dramatic, violent event” in which a person, almost always
a man, commits one murder or multiple murders, and then shortly after commits
suicide.1
What makes these acts particularly disturbing is that they involve more than
one person and often involve a family. They almost always are committed with a
firearm. Yet the phenomenon of murder-suicide garners little public attention as a
significant contributor to gun-related death and injury. This is despite the fact that,
as one medical professional has observed, “because many murder-suicides result in the
death or injury of family members and sometimes mass murder, they cause countless
additional morbidity, family trauma, and disruption of communities.”