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Summary: The autopsy report states:
- Entry gunshot wound of right anterior shoulder with
- Adult white male, 29 yrs.
- Laceration of right upper pulmonary lobe (lung)
- laceration of pericardial sac (heart)
- Massive hemothorax (hemorrhage in chest cavity)
- Hemopericardium
- Entry gunshot wound of right lower flank
- Entry gunshot wound of left antero-lateral thigh
- Entry gunshot wound of right temporal scalp
- Entry gunshot wound of right supra-auricular region
- Grazing gunshot wound of left chest
- Cause of death:
- Internal injuries due to multiple gunshot wounds.
Comment:
- The autopsy does not include an estimate of the time of death.
Summary and Comment:
Yet the body of the report gives an account of his death on Page 25:
At approximately 4:55 p.m., several ATF agents were ambushed by three individuals as the agents crossed a field near the compound. The ATF agents returned the gunfire, killing one individual and capturing another. The third individual escaped. The person who died was later identified (following the recovery of his body on March 3) as Michael Schroeder … All three individuals were Branch Davidians who had been at another location called the "Mag Bag" and were attempting to shoot their way into the compound.The reader might wonder how anyone could be ambushed while crossing a field, since the word "ambush" indicates a surprise attack from a concealed position, while a "field" is an expanse of open or cleared ground."
The circumstances of Schroeder's death are mentioned again on Page 47, and this time the scene is a "wooded area":
At 1:50 p.m., the body of Michael Schroeder was recovered by agents in a wooded area near the compound. Schroeder had been shot by ATF agents on February 28 when he and two other individuals ambushed the agents. A handgun was also discovered with the body.Further detail appears on Page 229:
On the afternoon of February 28, Michael Schroeder, a Branch Davidian, was killed while he and others attempted to penetrate the ATF perimeter on the north end of the property. Jamar initially allowed the Rangers to recover Schroeder's body and perform a limited crime-scene analysis. Later, the Rangers asked to be allowed to complete the crime-scene search by casting footprints and gathering other evidence. Jamar refused the request, and did not allow them back onto the crime scene for ten days. By then, rain had severely eroded the footprints they had hoped to process.
However, the County listed the death on the Waco IDs list
Bone chart and
medical glossary available on line.
Anomalies in the Forensic Process may also be
helpful.