wondering if you can answer some ????s

Question
my niece was shot with a .22short hand gun.wondering if she could have done it her self.direct in the heart very small entry wound no flash burns on her chest?

Answer
Clorinda,

I am very sorry for you and your family.

You don't give me a lot of information, but from from you've told me:

1)  Yes, it would be physically possible to shoot one's self in the chest with almost any handgun.

2)  A .22 rimfire cartridge (Short or LR) would make a very tiny entry.  There is often no exit with even an LR - I would not expect there to be an exit with a .22 Short, even at contact distance.

3)  I would not expect there to be "burns" on the chest (assuming she was clothed), but I WOULD expect gunshot residue (GSR) and particulate to be embedded in the clothing and the wound.  If the wound was self-inflicted, depending on how the gun was held, the greatest distance would only be about a foot away, although this would strike me as strange.  Self-inflicted wounds are almost invariably contact wounds.

If you are dissatisfied with the police investigation, you might consider hiring an independent forensics specialist.  A .22 will not have much GSR owing to the relatively small amount of powder, but on a self-inflicted wound there should be particulate imbedded in the clothing around the entry.