Seattle Police Release Pictures Of Shotgun In Kurt Cobain Suicide
SEATTLE (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Police in Seattle have released photos of the shotgun Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain used to kill himself 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 Wednesday.
The pictures were taken in June 2015, added to the city of Seattle's computer system March 3 and since then have been added to the investigative file, according to police.
This is the first time the public is seeing pictures of the Remington shotgun.
GALLERY: Police Release Photos Of Kurt Cobain Shotgun
CBS News asked for the photos in a public records act request. The release of the pictures dispels rumors by conspiracy theorists that the weapon was melted down in a police cover up of a potential murder, CBS News reported.
Cobain's body was found in Seattle on April 8, 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's family and the police department is trying to block a lawsuit seeking the release of graphic crime scene pictures showing the Nirvana singer's body. In court documents, Cobain's daughter said she fears the release of those pictures may "encourage disturbed stalkers and fanatical threats." Frances Bean Cobain said a man once broke into her home, waited for her for three days, and then told her he was "meant to be with me because my father's soul had entered my body."
Cobain, who was 27 when he died, helped popularize the Pacific Northwest's heavy, muddy "grunge'' rock, along with bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Mudhoney.
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