I don't know how many have ever *heard* a gunshot in an actual fatal shooting.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Unfortunately, I have.

And it's simply one of the most jarring sounds you'll ever hear, once your mind connects what you've just heard with what just happened.

It's the sound of a life ending, at that very place, at that very time. It represents something wild, unbridled, unrestrained, angry. Something atypical. Something extraordinary (in the classical meaning of the word). We live life not thinking of death because that's what helps us enjoy life. And with that single sound, that world is shattered.

In circumstances were the shooting was unjustified, it goes even further. It represents pure, unadulterated hatred by one person against another person. That the shooter so hates the victim he or she no longer wishes that person to be alive, to enjoy the joy of living. It seems so childish, so petty.

And even if you don't see the gun that was used to make that shot, you think about it. Constantly. And it's cold. And it's heartless. And it's cruel. It neither bleeds nor breathes. It does not feel. It was not born. It does not have loved ones. It only serves to take away life.

The funny thing is, most gun shots sound similar to firecrackers or balloons popping. Most aren't the deep, vibratory echoing sound that you hear simulated on TV or the movies. But once you hear it, you know it's not firecrackers or a popping balloon. And it will stay with you, and you wish you never heard it.

[The Magistrate]

1. Several Times, Sir

Have also heard a man being beaten to death, though I did not recognize the sound at the time --- it just seemed like somebody driving some nails in the apartment next door.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I heard a total of 5 in a murder that happened across the street from me.

[CherokeeDem]

3. I've Heard That Sound...

On a sidewalk in Coconut Grove... fortunately the homeless man, shot by Coconut Grove police, lived. They mistook his tiny portable radio for a weapon. But that sound... I was with Miami friends, and a friend visiting from Lexington. My Lexington friend had no clue what the popping sound was but I can tell you, we knew. About the time we started to react and find cover, since we didn't know what was happening, a shopkeeper ran to his door and pulled us inside, and told us to stay indoors with him.

Once you hear it and you know what it is... you won't mistake it... and it's chilling.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. The almost immediate recognition is the odd thing

I'm not a gun person. I don't fire guns, and I'm not around them by choice, like, ever. But I was living in a gang neighborhood in Chicago, and from time to time you'd get it outside, that sound.

For those who don't know, you recognize it immediately. It's often of course followed by ruckus, shouting, running. But when you hear that sound, you know it. It is like firecrackers (small ones), but not quite. And you know, shit, hit the deck, get the kids in the bathroom. You fucking know it.

Yes, I will call gunners assholes, and gun nut shitheads. Constantly. I don't like them. Viscerally. They make what was going on outside my windows in Chicago possible. They are deeply culpable in it, all of them. So if I call them fucking trash, it's because I believe they are all indirectly responsible for this horror that they are inflicting on the rest of us. if that's "emotionalism," as they say, well, yeah. Running in a squat to get your kids into a safer room is fucking emotional, so fuck them.

[NightWatcher]

5. I've heard gunshots meant for me. They were eerily quiet

Nowhere near as loud as at the gun range.

[HockeyMom]

6. I saw and heard it at 6 years old

when the driver of the bus I was on was shot to death in the head. Do not want to see or hear that ever again.

[dionysus]

7. a cop put down a run over deer right outside my house this summer. chilling sound.

[Bunnahabhain]

8. I lived in Detroit

and worked at DMC. Gunfire became something that was just background noise. That's the real danger.

[Recursion]

9. Nightly for a while there back in the 90s in DC

The most eerie were the execution-style shootings in Columbia Heights back then. But the "ordinary" shootings were bad enough.

[FarCenter]

10. How does a gunshot in a fatal shooting differ from other gunshots?

I'd think that the variation in sound depends on the type of gun and cartridges used? How far away? Which direction the shooter is firing in?