Sometimes Love Hurts — A Bunch
Linda Dillon says she tried to commit suicide with a .22 but the cops are having a tough time buying it. First, she can’t produce the weapon. Second, one shot in the head could be a suicide attempt, okay, but seven pops in the gourd? Something just ain’t right.
Hermosa Beach, Calif., officers went to Dillon’s apartment after a downstairs neighbor reported hearing moans. They found Dillon, a 57-year-old computer consultant, lying incoherent in the hallway of her blood-spattered apartment.
Hospital X-rays showed three slugs still lodged in her head, and other wounds to her neck, cheek, and behind her left ear. A powder-scorched pillow was found at the scene, but no weapon.
As soon as Dillon could talk, she claimed she had tried to commit suicide. Police said she was uncooperative and evasive about such minor matters as when, how, and why she made the alleged attempt, much less how she maneuvered a pillow into position to muffle the shots, then found the determination to fire six or seven rounds into her noggin, then get rid of the gun.
The usual suspects — an ex-husband and a friend — were rounded up, questioned and released. Police were convinced neither was involved in the incident, and agreed they were unlikely to come up with a guilty party as long as Dillon claimed to be her own assailant.
Dillon’s survival was amazing enough, but a doctor’s report made it all the more puzzling.
“The wounds are old,” said police Captain Mike Lavin. “The doctor estimates at least 48 hours or more old. I’m not kidding, it’s unbelievable … We’re talking at least a few days, maybe three or four days.”
Lavin expressed just a tad bit of doubt at Dillon’s suicide story. If she was covering up for someone, he theorized, “It must be someone she really likes.”
Author’s Note: Don’t even think about it. I don’t like anybody that much.
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Mark Moritz hung up his satirical spurs to a collective sigh of relief from America’s gun writers whom he had lampooned in Friendly Fire for two long, painful years. The 10 Ring is written by Commander Gilmore, a retired San Diego police officer who bases his humor, like Mark did, on actual occurrences. All the incidents described by the Commander are true.