Autopsy report: Shooter in U.Md. murder-suicide was intoxicated

Max Smith, wtop.com

BALTIMORE – A University of Maryland graduate student had been drinking before he shot his housemate from behind and then turned the gun on himself in February, according to just-released autopsy reports.

The autopsy reports from the murder-suicide have been released because prosecutors have officially closed their investigation into the shooting, which also wounded a second housemate.

The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that 23-year-old Dayvon Green had a blood alcohol level of 0.14 percent when he shot Stephen Rane, 22 of Ellicott City, four times, killing him.

Autopsy reports show that Green was pronounced dead almost immediately after police responded. Meanwhile rescuers tried for nearly an hour to save Rane. Their efforts continued from the house on 36th Avenue in College Park to Prince George’s Hospital Center.

After Rane died, two large-caliber copper-jacketed bullets were pulled from his body. He was hit twice in the left buttocks and once in the lower back. Another bullet grazed his upper back. All of the bullets had an upward trajectory, according to the reports.

The medical examiner found no signs of soot or gunpowder on Rane’s “blood-soaked” blue T-shirt or black jacket, indicating that he was not shot at close range.

Rane had not been drinking, the reports show.

Green shot himself in the head, just behind his right ear. A small metal fragment was detected in an X-ray done as part of the autopsy. But no bullets were found inside his body.

A standard drug test conducted as part of Green’s autopsy came back negative, according to the reports.

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