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Detective Michael Ciesynski holds the shotgun which rock legend Kurt Cobain used to take his own life in 1994. AP
Seattle

No explanation for why police release pictures of gun Kurt Cobain used to take his own life

It’s unclear why they’re making them public at this time.

POLICE IN SEATTLE have released photos of the shotgun Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain used to take his own life more than two decades ago.

Seattle police cold case Detective Mike Ciesynski is shown holding Cobain’s gun at different angles in five photos posted to the police department’s website on Wednesday.

The photos were taken in June 2015, added to the city of Seattle’s computer system on 3 March and since then have been added to the investigative file, according to police.

It’s unclear why they took the photos last year or why they’re releasing them to the public at this time.

A message left with Seattle police wasn’t immediately returned.

Cobain’s body was found in Seattle on 8 April, 1994. An investigation determined that days earlier Cobain had gone into the greenhouse of his large home and taken a massive dose of heroin. He then shot himself with a 20-gauge shotgun. His death was ruled a suicide.

On the 20th anniversary of Cobain’s death in 2014, Ciesynski reviewed the case files and said he found no new information to change the police conclusion that Cobain took his own life. He did find four rolls of undeveloped film from the suicide scene.

After releasing two of the images in 2014, police released 34 additional photos taken at the scene due to numerous public disclosure requests for the images.

Cobain, who was 27 when he died, helped popularise the Pacific Northwest’s heavy, muddy “grunge” rock, along with bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Mudhoney.

Irish helplines

    • Samaritans 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org
    • Console 1800 247 247 – (suicide prevention, self-harm, bereavement)
    • Aware 1800 80 48 48 (depression, anxiety)
    • Pieta House 01 601 0000 or email mary@pieta.ie – (suicide, self-harm)
    • Teen-Line Ireland 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)
    • Childline 1800 66 66 66 (for under 18s)

Read: Here’s how one group of Irish schoolfriends reacted to Kurt Cobain’s death

Read: Convicted murderer Romell Broom survived one execution but now faces a second

Author
Associated Foreign Press
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