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Cervical Spine Diagram With Trajectory Lines

Medical illustration of a human head and neck in side profile showing cervical vertebrae C1 through C7 with an overlaid blue diagonal line, a green dashed line and a red dot

What This Image Shows​

A medical illustration showing a human head and neck in side profile, with the skull and the seven cervical vertebrae labeled C1 through C7 down the right side. Three graphics are overlaid on the anatomy: a bright blue diagonal band, a green dashed line, and a single red dot.

The overlays are the analysis. Researchers reconstructing the wound path use diagrams like this one to test whether a stated entry point at a given vertebra can be reached from a stated firing position and angle. The blue band traces a candidate path, the green dashed line marks an alignment reference, and the red dot marks the disputed entry point.

The question the diagram is built to answer is whether a shot taken from the Losee Center rooftop, which researchers put at a downward angle of roughly five to nine degrees, could enter where the medical description places the wound. Several analysts have argued it could not, and that the described path from the upper cervical spine down into the thoracic cavity does not match a shallow downward shot from that distance. The full argument is at Wound Trajectory Angle and Trajectory and Wound Mismatch, with the medical record at Ballistics and Wound Analysis. This is a reference illustration with annotations, not a scan of the actual injury.

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