This is Robert Budd Dwyer, a Pennsylvania politician who committed suicide during a live press conference in 1987. This photo is from that press conference, the trombone has been photoshopped over the gun he used.
I was like thirteen and one of my friends had one of those “faces of dead”? VHS.
I remember him handing out envelopes or something, said something and pulled out the gun. With his free hand trying to keep people away and suddenly put it in his mouth, pulling the trigger.
The reason Dwyer shot himself is that he was facing prison time for a corruption scheme and if he died while still in office, his family got full benefits. Oh, and it turned out he was innocent.
Edit: sorry, turns out I was spreading disinformation. I read the Wikipedia article and it turns out the evidence against Dwyer was pretty solid. Thanks u/TopRamenBinLaden for setting me straight.
Source on his being innocent? I don’t remember that being even likely given the evidence, but it’s been like 35 years so I’m curious what came to light.
There was a biased documentary produced called Honest Man: The life of R. Budd Dwyer that spread the myth that Dwyer was framed. AFAIK, there is no evidence to prove that this actually happened, at all.
The FBI investigated him, a grand jury indicted him, and a court jury (who saw all the evidence over a long period of time) convicted him. All the appeals filed by his lawyers, after his death, were also denied.
