Australian twin sisters drew guns on each other at shooting range and fired

They were sharing the experience  of a lifetime, a cultural exchange to one of the most picturesque Rocky  Mountain towns. But when one Australian twin was due to return home from  the Colorado town of Arapaho, the sisters did not take a taxi to the  airport. Instead, the 29-year-old Victorian twins drove to a shooting  range, hired two pistols - and shot each other in the head. Just what  motivated their desperate pact is unknown. And so horrific were their  injuries, US police were yet to determine which sister died and which is  critically injured. The sisters, whose names are withheld, had been in  the US for less than three months.

According  to their cultural exchange visas, which often indicate participation in  an educational travel program, the first sister arrived on August 17  and the other on September 19. On Monday, one was to return to her  Victoria home. Police said yesterday they took a taxi from La Quinta Inn  and Suites, where they stayed, to the Family Shooting Centre in Cherry  Creek State Park just 8km away. Gun range owner Doug Hamilton said the  women had been to the shooting range before and knew how to use the  pistols they had rented. After checking in and being issued pistols, the  sisters spent 80 minutes at the range.

What happened next has baffled US investigators and torn a family apart. A  surveillance video showed both women falling backwards to the ground  almost simultaneously outside the shooting stall at about 2.50pm on  Monday, but it did not show what happened inside the stall. No one  entered or left the stall other than the two women. Police still don't  know whether the shooting was an accident, a suicide or foul play. No  suicide note was found. "Every time I get new information there's a new  twist," sheriff's Captain Louie Perea said. "We're keeping an open  mind." He said they weren't sure who fired the gun or guns, or whether  the same bullet hit both sisters, who were in the same shooting lane.


But  they ruled out a third person shooting them. The taxi driver who drove  the sisters to the range told investigators he had not noticed anything  unusual in their behavior. Neither did other people using the range at  the time. "They were interacting with each other and nothing seemed  unusual," Captain Perea said. "They were just a couple of gals having  fun at the range." Their sisters' family had been notified but the  coroner was still trying to identify which sister had died through  fingerprint and dental records. "They look very similar," Captain Perea.  Investigators had been unable to talk to the surviving twin, who is in a  critical but stable condition in hospital.