Despite initial reporting that the words were “deny,” “defend,” and “depose,” police clarified the following day that it was “delay” and not “defend” written on one of the casings.
I think it just means that there is a missing bullet (maybe never fired).
Obviously a reference to Delay, Deny, Defend, a common practice of insurance companies to maximize profit. The excerise is left to the reader to decide what “Depose” means.
Could be a major clue, perhaps this is someone who sued the company and they deposed him, which can be stressful/intimidating for the inexperienced.
Or this was someone trying to make it seem like it was motivated by claim denial, but botched the phrase.
Or the police might be misreporting this to catch false confessors.
Or pretty much anything else.
I get the feeling that it was very intentional that depose was written in the casing of the cartridge that was fired.
Depose can mean to “remove from office suddenly and forcefully” like when a government is over thrown, the leader is deposed.
In this context, the CEO was deposed by no longer being able to fulfill his role as CEO due to a severe and acute case of death.
The fact that “delay, deny, depose” is the general policy for insurance companies is the motivation for using that specific term over others. “Delay, deny and depose me? I’ll depose you.” Kind of thing.
I think it makes a very loud and very clear message.
“Three fired cartridge cases alongside three unfired cartridges were found at the scene. The words “delay”, “deny”, and “depose” were written on the cases. “Depose” was inscribed on a casing from a round fired into Thompson, while “delay” was marked on an unfired cartridge ejected as the shooter racked the pistol, possibly to clear a jam or intentionally discard the live round.”
